Comatose
by Susilo
Summary: A selfless sacrifice forces Beast Boy into a coma. Injured and unconscious, Garfield finds out that people in a comatose state really can hear things that go on around him. Too bad he came to that realization the hard way.
1. Prologue

**Customary Disclaimer** The author in no way shape or form owns the places or characters used in the following written work, and is in no way profiting off of their use in any way except when concerning his own ego. This story, and the situations depicted in it, is entirely for entertainment purposes for those that may stumble upon it.

**Note** There is no dialogue or speech in this prologue. Dialogue begins in chapter 1. The reason I wrote this prologue without speech is that I wanted to distinctly differentiate this from the actual chapters. This is a prologue, and as such, it is not meant to feel like just another chapter.

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**Prologue** Hero's Fall

As it did to everything that surrounded it, time took its toll on Jump City and its denizens. With each passing year, buildings were torn down and new, more modern designs rose from their ashes. Eroded sections of the streets were mended and repaired with the utmost care, as to ensure the safety of those who drove on them. The trees and plant life hidden in the city took root and multiplied rapidly, much to the duress of those who were employed to tend to them. The animals of the fair city, human or otherwise, too grew with time, slowly maturing and playing their part in society. It had been 5 years since the Brotherhood of Evil nearly succeeded in eliminating an entire generation of heroes, and many things had changed. However, on a small island off the coast of the city stood a monument that seemed to glow as it silently proclaimed to the world that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The inhabitants of the tower were older now, and they had all grown and matured with age, though some considerably more than others. The Titans were no longer teenagers, and their shortened name was not the only thing that proved it to be so. To the naked eye, it was obvious that each of them had changed. However, it was impossible for anyone to truly say how much they had changed without first hand experience, and only other Titans were privy to those experiences.

Nightwing, or Robin as his close friends still called him from time to time, had become more like his mentor personality wise than anyone would have thought healthy. Though, anyone who voiced their opinions on such matter would be met by a broody glare from the Titan's leader and a frown from his first girlfriend and current fiancé. He still led the Titans, unwilling to pass the torch just yet, though all of his fellow teammates were certainly qualified for the position. Richard Grayson, as few people on Earth knew Nightwing by, had grown considerably taller since venturing forth into his early twenties. He now stood only slightly shorter than his robotic teammate, Cyborg, but taller than two out of the three remaining Titans. He still hid behind a mask, concealing not only his own identity, but that of his mentor as well. However, his facial features had lost their boyishness and grew more sharp and manly. In battle, his eyes and facial features seemed to mold to the shape of a permanent glare as he stared down his opponents. Locking eyes with Nightwing was intimidating, to say the least.

Kori Anders, a name which the other four Titans decided to give Starfire after numerous failed attempts at pronouncing her actual name given to her on Tameran. Still, Starfire fell in love with her new name, and was more than pleased to allow her friends to call her such outside of battle. Kori had grown taller in years past, but sat between her fiancé and Cyborg in height. Although, that fact is to the former's chagrin, as Richard is slightly disturbed by the fact that his fiancé is taller than he is. The situation does not fall within his comfort zone in the least, but the two of them are very much in love regardless, even if Richard still has trouble expressing himself sometimes. Starfire's cooking improved greatly, though is still inedible for the most part. From time to time, she stumbles onto a dish that is unlike anything the Titans have ever tasted before, but often finds that she is unable to recreate the feat at a later date. The excitement of seeing her friends actually enjoy something she made oftentimes results in Kori innocently forgetting some of the minor details in the process. Still, she continues to try.

Victor Stone, or Cyborg as people on the opposite side of the law knew him by, was probably the Titan who had changed the least physically. His mechanical half simply did not allow himself to age as a normal human would. Instead, he aged mentally and emotionally. In his teens, he was one of the few Titans, honorary members included, who could match the sheer volume and level of immaturity that his green skinned teammate and best friend could achieve. Now, nearing his mid twenties, Cyborg had molded into the role of the wise older brother of his teammates, always seeming to come up with the answers people needed or being able to say what people needed to hear. The price for such wisdom was, for the most part, giving him an extra hand or two when the mechanical man was working on his beloved car, which had undergone countless modifications where the newest and best accessories and parts were installed. After all, nothing was too good for his "baby." Even with his endless wisdom, Cyborg oftentimes found himself regressing to his early teenaged attitude and banter whenever challenged to a video game. He was the best at them, after all, and there was nothing wrong about allowing a healthy amount of ego show from time to time.

Raven, after much deliberation, decided to take her mother's maiden name as her own. And thus, Raven Roth emerged… in a sense, which is to say it was a name only four others knew her by. The half demon had actually changed the least out of all five Titans, though she did not care for such trivialities. Emotionally, Raven was the same as ever, keeping herself at a safe distance from those around her, but also seeming so close at the same time. To anyone but her team, she would have seemed cold and unemotional, but years living together had taught them all a thing or two about her, and they realized that she was anything but. Physically, however, she was a few inches taller than she was as a teenager and her form more womanlike. Her hair now rested just below her shoulders, which were still covered along with the rest of her figure by her trademark form fitting leotard and cloak. Despite her best efforts, the purple haired woman found that she had a rapidly growing fan base, which consisted of the rebellious Goth youth, the overly appreciative elderly, and men. Oh, not a day went by when the hormonal, male inhabitants of the city did not praise the higher powers for allowing beauties such as Raven Roth and Starfire to live in and protect their city. Life was good.

Garfield "Beast Boy" Logan had become a fine example of a young man over the past five years. To his sheer joy, he had surpassed Raven in height, leaving his female friend as the new shortest member of the team, but now stood several inches shorter than their leader, Nightwing. Gar was not too particularly happy when he stopped growing, but he took his small victory over Raven as consolation. Over the years, Gar Logan's code name was continuously changing. Upon his eighteenth birthday, he officially changed his name to Animal Man, signaling his reach into adulthood. Upon Raven's admission that his new name was in fact God awful, and the fact that the other Titans quickly agreed and were relieved that someone had finally had the courage to say it, the changeling quickly dawned a new and highly original name, Changeling. His run as changeling lasted a few years, but it was on his twentieth birthday that he threw it out and retook his original code name of Beast Boy. After all, the name fit him perfectly. He was still a kid at heart, and much of his antics remained the same after five years, though they were more tolerable and subdued now that he had matured slightly.

As a group, the Titans were stronger than ever, going into battle as a unit and following through countless battle tactics like a well oiled machine. Years of experience led them to victory after victory against old and new foes alike, though the names and powers of their adversaries seemingly were getting more and more ridiculous with each passing year. Though some villains managed to come close to victory, the Titans always prevailed in the end, earning the gratitude of their city and, in many cases, the world.

The days seemed to blur together as life for the Titans settled down into a comfortable routine. The siren that wailed throughout the tower whenever there was trouble in the city had become a part of the five young adults' lives, albeit a hectic one and they were quick to react and set things right whenever called upon. They were fortunate, and they knew it. Each of them was blessed with a group of friends that they wouldn't trade for the world, a home that was better than anything they could imagine and a profession that they could willingly dedicate themselves to. Not only that, but throughout their careers as heroes, not one of them had ever had to face a serious, life threatening injury. Together, they looked out for and protected each other, making sure any and all injuries sustained in battle were minor. Life was routine for them, but never boring.

It was on one of these routine, midsummer days that the Titans were interrupted in the middle of their lunch by the familiar sound and red glow of the siren that signaled something amiss. Nightwing quickly contacted the police and was informed that a group of three men had attempted to rob a bank an hour prior to the call. Fortunately, one of the Bank's employees had managed to trip the silent alarm without being caught by the three armed assailants, alerting the police to their peril. Within minutes, the bank had been surrounded by a squadron of police forces, and negotiations had been attempted for the release of the hostages. However, much to the horror of the police, it seemed that once the three attempted robbers noticed that their situation had turned from profitable to something altogether undesirable to them, panic and fear ran rampant through their minds. None of them were prepared for the consequences of what they were doing, and their state of minds quickly became unstable. All forms of negotiations were met with either near untranslatable gibberish or threats on the hostages' lives. It was obvious that something had to be done.

And so, the Titans were called in on a routine mission to save an unknown number of people from three armed and possibly mentally unstable would be bank robbers. They had handled plenty of situations like this before, so they were confident that this mission would be nothing less than simple. Within minutes, the team was suited up and on their way to the scene of the crime.

Nightwing arrived first, having left the tower on his signature motorcycle as quickly as he could. He swiftly, yet precisely surveyed the area around the bank and spoke to the police officer who appeared to be in charge as he waited for the rest of his team to arrive. Things had not calmed down in their transit to the scene, only escalating dangerously as each of the three robbers now held a hostage tightly in their arms with a gun to their heads. They needed to act, and it had to be soon.

Starfire arrived moments later, touching down next to her fiancé. The alien princess had flown there since she could easily fly faster than her robotic teammate's car. Not only that, but in all their years as a couple, she had never let Nightwing out of her sight in a battle, and neither did he. He was hers and she was his, and they vowed to protect each other and their future they had yet to live.

A minute later, the T-car sped to a halt behind the barricade of police cars that surrounded the bank's entryway, signaling the arrival of their three remaining teammates. Cyborg got out of his car and went to Nightwing's side to get an update on the situation. More than anyone, Victor was most comfortable in a leadership position, and without even knowing, the cybernetic man seemed to try to put himself on even footing with his leader. Garfield was out of the car next in a flash, and seconds later was opening one of the back doors for his purple haired teammate. Raven looked up at his smiling face with an emotionless expression before rolling her eyes. Mumbling to herself about being perfectly capable of getting out of a car on her own, Raven slid to the opposite side of the back seat and exited the car on her own accord. Garfield frowned as he shut the door, but his happy demeanor returned in full force when he noticed the ghost of a smile that played on Raven's lips as she beckoned him towards the awaiting Titans. Chuckling to himself, he followed, though he never needed a reason to. The Titans were assembled, and they were more than ready.

After a few minutes discussing tactics with Cyborg, Nightwing decided that stealth would be the best course of action for taking out the three bank robbers inside, and the team instantly separated, each knowing by heart the role that they would play. Cyborg and Starfire, having attire (or in Cyborg's case, body parts) that consisted of mainly bright, noticeable colors; each guarded the front and back areas surrounding the building. Since they could not stealth as easily as their other three teammates, their job was to apprehend the criminals if they attempted to escape.

By now, the robbers had noticed the presence of the Titans, and their fear of being captured grew exponentially. Without thinking, the leader grabbed his hostage and called back to his comrades that they were moving to the roof. Even in his panicked state of mind, he knew that the Titans could oftentimes appear from the shadows in a heartbeat to take down their foe, and that inside the bank were numerous shadowy corners for them to use. All he wanted was a quick payoff, and he was not about to end the day in jail if he could help it. The sun shone directly down on the roof, and the only shadows there would be from their own bodies, and he was certain that they would be small enough and close enough to them to prevent Nightwing or the other Titans from using them as cover. Nodding silently, the other two would be bank robbers followed their leader to the roof.

Nightwing hung upside down from the roof of the bank, clutching the line of his grappling hook tightly as to not fall down. To his right levitated Raven normally with an unreadable expression on her face as a small, green mockingbird sat perched on her shoulder. The Titans' leader envied his female teammates greatly. The ability to fly was a great asset that many meta humans seemed to possess. He, however, had to do without; oftentimes spending an unhealthy amount of time laying in wait in a position similar to the one he was in now. Fortunately, their time to strike came sooner than he anticipated. He gave a small nod to his green friend, and watched as the small mockingbird transformed into a near invisible green fly and took off towards the roof. Their operation had begun.

In fly form, Beast Boy observed the situation on the roof. The three criminals stood back to back in a triangle formation near the edge of the building, each with hostage in hand. Garfield's mind's eye narrowed, finding it impossible to get his fly eyes to do so, as he saw the look of terror on the hostages' faces. All three were innocent, and scared to the very core. No doubt each of them only wanted to go home, and Beast Boy promised them mentally that they all would. Silently flying above the six people hurtled together, the green fly poised himself for attack as he waited for Nightwing's signal.

With beast Boy in position, Raven signaled the information to Nightwing and he nodded in return. It was time. In one swift motion, Nightwing extended his Bo Staff to full length and carelessly tossed it up onto the roof. Normally, such an action would both alert their prey that something was wrong, and give away their position. However, that was exactly what he was planning.

On the roof, Nightwing's staff let out a metallic clang as it landed on the roof, immediately getting the attention of the three criminals. They each reacted predictably, aiming their guns away from the innocent people in their clutches and towards the area of the roof that the staff had landed on. Noisily, the weapon settled to the ground and eventually rolled to a stop, but the guns pointed in its direction remained unmoving. Fear surfaced in their minds again, but before they could determine how they should react, the attack had begun.

In the blink of an eye, the green fly that had been previously unnoticed morphed into a much larger octopus. Gravity took its course, and the octopus fell hard onto the group of people. In panic, gunshots were fired, but the weapons were still aimed at nothing but thin air. Nightwing and Raven heard the gunfire, and the leader frowned. Neither of them was fond of this part of the plan. They could do nothing but wait for their green skinned teammate to complete his mission.

Upon landing, Beast Boy used the confusion to wrap one of his tentacles around each of the three guns and the three hostages in the possession. The robbers were all too easily relieved of their weapons, and recovered from the shock of having an octopus fall on top of them just in time to see a large, green gorilla sprinting towards the edge of the roof with hostages in tow. They were weaponless. They were hostageless. They were afraid of what they knew was coming next.

Hearing the thumps of gorilla feet approaching, Nightwing knew that things were going as planned. He was in motion without a sound, jumping onto the roof and quickly retrieving his discarded staff. It was about to serve a much different purpose than as a distraction. As he and Beast Boy passed each other, Nightwing wordlessly told him that the he would take care of the rest. He was going to have a few words with the criminals in front of him, and he did not intend for them to be pleasant ones.

Raven joined Beast Boy on the roof as he changed back into his human form, depositing both the guns and the frightened people on the ground. Raven sighed to herself as she looked down upon the projectile weapons the changeling had confiscated. Too many people on the wrong side of the law that the group had come across had found a false form of bravery by merely possessing a gun. It was sickening, and she quickly made a point to dismantle any such weapons they came across by using her powers.

The hostages watched in horrified fascination as a black aura enveloped the guns that had been previously threatened their lives. With a glare from the pale Titan and a clenched fist, the soft sound of metal being ripped apart could be heard from within the dark aura. Seconds later, the aura vanished, and all that remained were hundreds of broken pieces of dark metal. It was almost unbelievable that so many shards of broken metal could have once been a gun. The police were not fond of Raven's tendency to destroy evidence, and Raven knew that this occasion would be no different but she did not care. The world was a little better off now than it had been a minute before.

Raven then looked down at the three civilians with an expression as comforting as she could manage. She knew that she must have looked ridiculous and she could feel Garfield holding back his laughter, but she ignored it. Instead, she wrapped the three civilians in another dark aura, slowly lifting them off the roof and beginning their short descent down to the ground below. She felt Garfield's caring smile aimed at her, and could not fight back a smile of her own. His smiles seemed to be her weakness nowadays, and she hated it… somewhat.

The shock of losing both their weapons and their leverage in mere seconds sent two of the three robbers to the ground, and the fact that Nightwing was closing in on them made the third's knees nearly give way. But he refused to give in. He was grasping at straws, he knew, but there still had to be a chance he could escape capture. His eyes darted from Nightwing to Raven and Beast Boy frantically as a plan quickly formed in his head. Their three guns may have been destroyed, but he had been smart enough to carry a few extra weapons with him just in case.

Nightwing clutched his staff tightly and fell into a battle stance as he saw the only criminal left on his feet quickly reach into his pocket and pull something out. To his relief, it was only a switchblade. It was a predictable weapon for someone to make their last stand against the Titans with, but not one that he had not encountered a thousand times before. However, to his shock, the man reacted quite differently than any other like him had before. In seconds, the knife was flying towards Nightwing as the man threw it at him in what seemed to be panic. However, as the dark knight in training dove to the side and glared at his careless opponent, he saw something that made his blood run cold. It was another gun, but it was not aimed at him. It was aimed at the person whose attention was focused on her current duty to get the hostages to safety. Raven had no idea what was coming.

Nightwing moved with a quickness he had never thought possible as he pulled out one of his boomerangs and threw it at the gun. Time seemed to slow down in an ominous precursor to what was to come. His attack was headed towards the man far too slow. The man's finger was puling the trigger too fast. He was not going to make it in time. In a panic, he struggled to find his voice to call out to his teammates, but it was drowned out by the sound of a single gunshot being fired.

In their world, there were man heroes, and not all possessed special abilities. Contrary to popular belief, the heroes of their world were more often than not just regular people. A hero stood up for what they believed him. They embraced what was right and just. And they did not hesitate to throw down their lives for those around them. Police officers were heroes. Firemen were heroes. The meta humans of their world were not all heroes. They chose either good or evil when using their powers, but at that moment, one meta human chose them more than ever to be on the side of good. He chose to be a hero.

Raven barely had time to register the sound of a gun firing when she felt a pair of strong, green arms shove her to the ground. Anger washed over her as she hit the ground, but confusion was predominant as she whipped her head around to glare at the person who shoved her. For the first time in years, she was terrified at what she saw.

Beast Boy's eyes were unfocused as a numb feeling slowly spread throughout his chest. When he had heard the gunshot, he had reacted with animal swiftness before he could think. His instincts knew what was happening, and before he knew it, Raven was on the ground and he had taken her place in the line of fire. He was only vaguely aware of his surroundings now. He could not think straight, and hardly noticed when he began to fall backwards off the roof. He recognized their voices as he fell, but could not make out what they were saying. His body had gone into shock, and his eyesight was starting to blur.

Nightwing was in shock, and Raven was no better. Both were frozen, unable to react as the scene slowly played out before them. All too soon, it ended as the sound of Beast Boy's limp body crashing into one of the police cars below echoed around them. The sound brought tears to Raven's eyes, and she reached out to him calling his name to no avail.

Garfield "Beast Boy" Logan had fallen.

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**Commentary for the latest chapter can be found on my profile page. **


	2. Hospitalized

**Customary Disclaimer** The author in no way shape or form owns the places or characters used in the following written work, and is in no way profiting off of their use in any way except when concerning his own ego. This story, and the situations depicted in it, is entirely for entertainment purposes for those that may stumble upon it.

**Note** Although it is hopefully obvious, the large, italicized portion at the beginning of this as well as all chapters following are flashbacks. They serve as a counter to any drama found in the present timeline as well as providing important backstory for Raven, Beast Boy, and other characters included in each flashback.

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Chapter 1** Hospitalized

_Garfield Logan let out a content sigh as he fell back onto the couch of the tower common room. Today had been the happiest day in his life thus far. He had done it. Garfield was eighteen years old at last, a legal adult in the eyes of the law. Not that it amounted to much as far as he was concerned. He was still three years from being able to drink legally, and he had received his driver's license a year prior, though Cyborg refused to build him a car no matter how safe he had promised he would be. Now at eighteen years old, nothing much had changed, but it still meant the world to him._

_From all the excitement of the day and the hype of adulthood still fresh on his mind, Garfield found himself wide awake and alone in the common room at midnight. Chuckling softly to himself, he kicked around the haphazardly discarded wrapping paper that still covered the common room floor. It had been a good year for him in terms of gifts, which surprising considering the other Titans had refused to even look at the least he had made. They said that everything had been taken care of, and to Garfield's delight, they had not lied. _

_The City, as they had done for each of the Titans' eighteenth birthdays, negotiated a specific dish served at a local restaurant to be named after their local hero. This year, Garfield's dish had been spinach pasta with alfredo sauce served at a rather high class Italian restaurant, surprising the honored Titan. He had expected to merely get a pizza named after him but he wasn't about to complain, especially after tasting the dish for himself. The rest of his gifts were a little less classy, but still appreciated by the changeling. _

_Starfire used her many connections at the mall to get a new custom designed uniform made for her teammate, noticing that Gar was beginning to look a bit ridiculous in his now undersized old one. The new uniform was a deep purple from his lower shoulders up, and a pure black everyone else save for matching purple kneepads. The kneepads had been a bit much, in his opinion, but all in all he loved it. Of course, with how tight his old uniform was getting, he almost would have been willing to wear a neon pink uniform if Star had giving it to him. _

_Cyborg announced that he had signed Garfield up for a defensive driving course, which confused him at first. However, his attitude quickly changed when his best friend explained that once he completed the course, then he MIGHT be allowed to drive the T-car sometime. Of course, Cyborg stated that would have to be under his supervision and it was not set in stone, but the mere possibility was enough to get Garfield actually excited about taking the defensive driving class. _

_After opening a few gifts from the various honorary Titans and receiving a month's supply of tofu from Titans East, Robin stood and informed Garfield what his gift from him would be. What it was caught the changeling completely by surprise. Since he was legally a man now, Garfield's old name of Beast Boy no longer seemed to adequately describe him. Thus, Robin gave him the option of taking on a new code name. Before he could finish describing what the process would entail, Gar stood up and loudly proclaimed what his new name would be. _

_The changeling was abruptly pulled out of his musings when he heard the common room doors swish open behind him, and the familiar sounds of a cloak trailing in its owners wake soon followed. With a large grin plastered on his face, the green Titan turned to greet his late night visitor. _

"_Hey, Raven."_

_Raven froze in her tracks for a moment not used to anyone else being awake whenever she ventured out for ate night tea, but she quickly recovered and resumed her walk to the kitchen. "You're up late," she said simply as she pulled her tea kettle out of one of the cabinets. "It's… unusual."_

"_Yeah." Garfield stood up, rubbing the back of his head slightly embarrassed as he walked towards the kitchen to join his friend. "I couldn't sleep. Too excited. I mean, I'm eighteen now! It's a big milestone in my life, ya know."_

"_Mmm" Raven hummed in acknowledgement as she placed the now filled kettle on the stove. It was true. She had felt a similar excitement when she had reached this age earlier in the year. Of course, each and every year she lived now was a blessing since she was never intended to live as long as she had. Still, she could empathize with the changeling regardless. _

_Turning from the stove, Raven noticed Garfield had taken a seat at the table with eyes locked on her. The emotions she felt from him as he gazed at her sent a shiver up her spine, and she quickly took a seat across from her colleague in an attempt to conceal her reaction. "It certainly comes with a new set a of responsibilities. You aren't a boy anymore. I doubt there will be much time for goofing off."_

_Raven observed that Gar's expression now seemed to be deep in thought, and she admired just how mature he now seemed. Perhaps his new name fit him more than she had given him credit for. Of course, the moment was ruined as the changeling rolled his head back in laughter, unable to stifle it any longer. His poker face still needed some work. _

"_Way to take all the fun out of everything, Rae," he exclaimed between laughter. "I mean, here I am all excited and looking foreword to the future, then you come in and in one fell swoop hand me a giant cup of serious." He shot a playful thumbs up in her direction. "Way to go."_

"_What can I say," Raven said smiling a warm, genuine smile at her teammate. "It's my job."_

_Gar beamed at that smile, the smile he had seen countless times that day. It was that smile that was Raven's gift to him, and it never got old. From her smiling at one of his corny jokes at breakfast to this moment, he could not get enough of her smile. If he had been a more observant person, he would have expected Raven's present to lie just along the edge of her control over her powers. She had certainly spent the last few days meditating enough for what seemed like a month's worth of smiles. In truth, he knew his luck wouldn't last, and when he woke up the next day the smiles would probably be gone, replaced with her usual emotionless demeanor. But he did not care. He was just enjoying the moments as they came. _

_They each sat in silence for a few minutes as Garfield's grin refused to leave his face, causing Raven to avert her gaze untrusting of her own willpower at the moment. As always, her green companion was there whenever silence needed to be broken. _

"_So," he began hesitantly, "what… uh… what do you think of my new name, and be honest!. I like to think I've grown enough to be able to take a bit of criticism."_

_Raven bit her lip and focused on the table between them. This was not where she was hoping their conversation would be heading. Leave it to Gar to find a way to pull her out of her comfort zone. "Well," she paused, trying to think of… anything… to say, "it's certainly to the point."_

_Gar sighed in defeat. "You hate it."_

"_No!" Raven denied a bit too quickly. "I mean," her brow furrowed as she tried to put the right words together, "it's not perfect, but it's… you." No, she did not suppose that sounded convincing at all. Oh Azar, she hated that name, but she refused to show it. It was Garfield's moment, and she refused to ruin it for him._

"_Yeah, I know it isn't the best name in the world," the changeling admitted, "but it was the best I could come up with on the spot like that. You __**did**__ kinda rule out me using Beast Man a few years ago."_

_Raven's mood perked up a bit upon hearing Gar's admission. He wasn't completely satisfied with his new name either. Perhaps a bit of a push would get him to think of changing it to something less silly. "You didn't have to think of anything right away," Raven said reassuringly. "Robin even said you didn't have to change your name right away if even at all. He just put the option on the table."_

"_Eh, it's okay," Garfield waved his hand dismissively. "I'll stick with it for now. Thinking things though just isn't my style, anyway. I'm more of an impulsive kind of guy."_

_Raven laughed almost inaudibly, but a laugh nonetheless. "That you, are," she reached across the table and patted him on the head gently a few times before he could pull away, "Animal Man."_

_The tea kettle began whistling loudly, and Raven thanked Azar a thousand times over that she did not have to watch Garfield's reaction as she stood to her feet to attend to her tea. As soon as she was facing away from him, her eyes narrowed to a deadly glare. Oh, he had won this round and the next would have to wait for another day, but one thing was for certain. This was far from over. The name Animal Man would not survive long if she could help it, not long indeed. He would thank her later. Oh yes! He would._

~-~-~

Jonathan Gurde sighed and leaned back in what he was certain was the most uncomfortable chair in the hospital. He was bored. It was nearing the end of his first month as a resident at the county hospital in Jump City, and there was absolutely nothing to do. When he had been given the job as a doctor, he had been overjoyed thinking that his days from then on were going to be filled with nothing but excitement. After all, his hectic internship had made him expect nothing less. Now that he actually had the job, though, he realized just how boring it was. Most patients he saw suffered from nothing more serious than the flu. Sure there was a broken bone from time to time or an infected liver, but most days he merely pawned work he did not feel like doing himself off on the new interns, thank God for them.

So, you could say his boredom was his own fault, but he did not mind. That was what interns were there for, and he was not about to pass up the opportunity to take full advantage of them. Still, he could not help but wish that something would happen today, something major. But the chances of something major happening in this city were slim, especially since the Titans called this city their home. It was not like they ever allowed anyone to be hurt if they could help it. Jonathon was just going to have to sit there in the hallway and wait for one of the interns to make a mistake and come to him for help. It would be any moment now.

Just then, the double doors at the end of the hallway Jonathon sat leisurely in burst open suddenly as a team of paramedics rushed in, pulling a cart behind them. The young doctor looked up from his seat surprised. He had not actually expected anything to happen today. Nothing ever happened in this city, and from the looks of the paramedic's faces, whatever had happened had been big. He had been so shocked by the sudden intrusion that he had not noticed that the paramedics were nearing his position.

"Are you a doctor?" One of the paramedics asked in a rushed voice. The patient was in bad condition, and needed treatment as soon as possible.

'_That's a silly question. Am I a doctor? Don't you know who I am? You must not watch the local news much.'_

"Yes, Dr. Gurde is one of our youngest and brightest," a nurse smiled at him. Where had she come from?

"Oh!" Jonathan quickly got to his feet and joined the paramedics around the cart they had in tow. This was it, his first big patient. Clearing his throat, the young doctor did his best to sound as professional as possible. "What do we have?" For the first time, Jonathan looked down at his newest patient and did a double take, not believing at what his eyes registered the first time around. The person's skin was green. Oh dear. This was big indeed.

"Apparently," the paramedic explained quickly, "the man pushed his friend away as a bank robber tried to shoot her. Unfortunately, he took the bullet for her and fell off the roof of the bank and onto a cop car."

'_Dude, that guy deserves a medal. That's awesome.'_

"When we arrived, the paramedic continued, "we found him unconscious. He had several cuts along his arms and legs in addition to the bullet wound. We've stopped the bleeding on most of them, but there's a deep gash on his right leg that needs to be looked at after you patch up the bullet wound. He's a lucky man, otherwise, though. One of his ribs managed to stop the bullet he took. It would have gone straight through his heart if he had been about 2 centimeters less lucky."

'_Sounds painful. Sure glad that wasn't me.'_

"Thank you," Jonathan nodded in appreciation. "We'll take it from here. Nurse," he turned to the woman beside him, "Call the O.R. stat. This man needs immediate surgery."

"Yes, doctor," the nurse smiled in slight amusement. This was the first time she had ever herd Dr. Gurde actually sound like a real doctor, but he'd always be the same lost and confused intern she had seen years ago to her.

"Good luck, kid," the lead paramedic smiled slightly as he turned and led his team back out the way they came. "You're going to need it. **They** will be here soon."

Before Jonathon could ask what they had meant by that, the double doors again burst open revealing another team, although with an entirely different purpose than the first, and each and every member of the team was staring straight at him. He was starting to wish he had called in sick today. The only thing worse than having an injured Titan on his hands was having to face the questions of the remaining four.

"Doctor," the nurse from before appeared again from around the corner, "the O.R. has been alerted. They say to bring him up immediately. Turns out that the chief of surgery is here today checking up on a few things, so he's going to take care of this personally." The nurse then gave Jonathan an odd look as she noticed his paled features. She followed his gaze down the hallway and spotted the Titans closing in on them. "Oh." She turned back to the young doctor and gave him a warm smile. "You should go. Take the elevator at the end of the hallway up to the O.R. I'll take care of them here."

'_That woman seems nice. I bet she has a crush on the doctor… Wait! I think I've been watching too many of Star's soap operas.'_

"Right," Jonathan gave the nurse a grateful smile as he pulled the cart hurriedly down the hallway, away from the questions that were sure to come soon.

"Hey!" Cyborg's voice could be heard from down the hallway. "Hey, wait! Don't you run away from me. How's he doing? Where are you taking him?"

'_Hey! It's Cyborg. Dude, he's always so nice. Sounds like he's worried about that guy those people were talking about earlier.'_

"Please, you mustn't go any farther." The lone nurse spoke weakly as she attempted to bar the Titan's path. Visiting hours are over, and you cannot follow your teammate up to the O.R."

"Teammate?" Nightwing's eye twitched. "That's not just our teammate. That's our friend. You can't possibly expect us to just sit and wait here patiently. He's hurt, and we intend to be there for him." Nightwing attempted to sidestep the nurse before him, but she moved just as quickly with him.

"I'm going to make sure B is okay. Out of the way, lady," Cyborg attempted to mimic his leader's actions and push past the small woman, but again she would not relent, barring them from the hallway. Growling in frustration, Victor glared down at the stubborn nurse. It was the first time he had actually taken notice of her other than as someone in his way, and his one human eye widened in realization. "Dr. Charles?"

"Not here!" The woman glared at the metal man as she stood up at her full height in defiance. In an instant, all previous notions of a weak little girl were gone, and before them stood the same yet entirely different person. "I'm just Sarah, here. I'm just a nurse working the day shift to make end's meat." Sarah shot a death glare at Cyborg who was failing miserably to stifle his laughter.

"You?" Victor laughed loudly. "Just a Nurse? Come on, Sarah. That's like sayin' I'm just a calculator with feet." Cyborg's laughter calmed suddenly and he gave the familiar woman in front of him a serious look. "What's going on, and why won't you let us see our friend?"

"Cyborg," Starfire suddenly appeared beside Sarah, poking her a few times. "Who is this? You two seem quite friendly with each other. What is your relationship with her?"

"We're," Cyborg's human half blushed, "I mean, she's a scientist, but don't be fooled by her age. She's employed by S.T.A.R. labs, but she worked as a physical therapist for a few years before that. Dr. Sarah Charles," Cyborg smiled down at her, "why are you here?"

"I'm undercover," Sarah looked down at her nurse's uniform with distaste, "as you can see. After S.T.A.R. labs caught wind of the brotherhood of evil incident years back, the higher ups decided to keep a close eyes on the younger heroes in case they ever were injured or needed help again. You guys should feel flattered. The Teen Titans were top priority for a while."

"There's nothing flattering about learning that someone's been looking over your shoulder the past five years," Nightwing frowned, eyes Sarah coldly, "not to mention that they still are."

"Woah," Sarah threw hr hands up defensively. "I'm just here for medical purposes only. You guys have proven yourselves time and time again since that incident. We have full confidence in you guys. Most of the operatives were called back years ago. There's no need to get temperamental."

"She right, Nightwing," Victor interjected. "What's done is done. Besides, this isn't what we should be worried about right now. Beast Boy needs us." Cyborg attempted to move past Sarah once again, but she was not caught off guard.

"Sorry," the young S.T.A.R. labs employee folded her arms and smirked at her metal friend. "It's hospital policy." Hearing Nightwing's angry growl, she quickly added, "At any given time, over half of the staff at this hospital are employed by S.T.A.R. labs, like me. If you have any doubt about our qualifications, you need not be worried. I can assure you that only the best work here. Beast Boy is in good hands."

Jonathon sighed as the elevator doors closed. He had made it without having to deal with the Titans, which was a blessing from an angel as far as he was concerned. It was not that he disliked the super hero team. It was just that he was scared of them. He was grateful that they had saved the city and the world time and time again, but the prospect of actually meeting them face to face was terrifying. That was not to mention the fact that one of their own was now in his care. He would probably have to deal with them later, but for now, he was glad he was safe in the elevator. The patient would be in the O.R. soon, and that meant he could go hide in a corner and out of sight for a few hours.

Breaking the silence, a soft humming noise filled the room, causing the young doctor to glance towards his patient. What he saw made his heart freeze. "Holy shit!" He cried out in horror, instinctively backing into the corner of the elevator farthest from the scene. A woman garbed in dark blue stood perched over the unconscious green boy, with glowing white hands hovering over his body. Jonathon had not evaded all of the Titans after all. Raven had found him.

'_Wonder what's up with him.'_

"I apologize," Raven spoke softly, without looking up from her work. "I had not meant to startle you. I am merely here to mend what I can before you take him any farther."

'_Ah, I see. Raven has that effect on people the first time around, especially if she has her hood up. She should leave it down more. It's nice to see her go out of her way to heal someone, though. She's always had a good heart. It's what I like about her.'_

"Mend?" Jonathon managed to ask, fear still obviously present in his voice. "You mean you can heal him?"

"No," Raven frowned as her hands hovered over Beast Boy's bandaged right leg. "I can only mend small wounds and fractures. Deep wounds like this," her hand moved slowly away from the leg and to the green Titan's chest, "and this are beyond my ability to repair." Though the shadow her hood cast on her face, Raven peered up at Beast Boy's face. His eyes were closed, and his seemingly ever present smile was gone. An eerie calm now dominated his featured. Raven's frown deepened. Such an expression did not suit him. Raven's next words were spoken barely above a whisper. "I'm so sorry, Beast Boy."

'_Me? Why are you apologizing to me? I'm right here. I'm fine.'_

It was then that it dawned on Garfield. It was as if raven's confession had opened the floodgates of realization, causing the injured Titan to remember all that occurred. It was as if he was watching it all happen again, and he could almost feel the numbness he had felt as he fell from the roof of the bank. It all made sense now. Ever since "waking up" in the ambulance, something had felt wrong. The people around him were not answering his questions, but he had just thought it was merely because they were too focused on keeping the injured man alive. In truth, they were, but **he** was the injured man.

'_I'm… I'm not fine, am I, Raven?' Beast Boy's question echoed in his own mind, receiving no answer. 'That's me, isn't it? Oh God, I was shot! I… I… Oh God…'_

"It's my fault," Raven continued, unaware of Beast Boy's inner turmoil. "If I had not been so careless, you would not have needed to save me. I should have kept watch on the criminals. It was foolish to assume that they no longer possessed more of those cursed guns."

'_Raven,' Garfield thought softly, 'don't event think about blaming yourself. It's no one's fault. You were following the plan to the letter, and so was I. Once Nightwing entered, my job became protecting you until the hostages were clear. That's what I did, and I would have done it even if it wasn't part of the plan. I don't have any regrets, so neither should you.'_

Raven was shaking now, fighting to hold her emotions in check. She could not stay here any longer. Every moment she stayed, she risked her power lashing out at something or someone. There was very little in the elevator that her power could lash out at, and that was what frightened her the most. The last thing she wanted was to cause Beast Boy more pain. She had to leave. "Please," Raven spoke to no one in particular as she began to phase herself through the floor of the elevator, "take care of Beast Boy." And then she was gone.

Jonathon picked himself up from the corner of the elevator as Raven took her leave, cursing himself for being so much of a coward. he hated himself right now. How was he supposed to call himself a doctor if the friends and family of his patient, regardless of who they were, were enough to make him cower in a corner. If he was going to be successful, he had to face his fears and the best time to start was now.

Feeling the elevator begin to slow to a halt, Jonathon brushed the dust off of his white coat and stood at full height. He brought himself up to full height, and a stern look spread across his face. Raven was no longer here to hear him, but he felt that the words still needed to be said. "Don't worry," he gripped the edges of the cart Beast Boy was laying on. "Your friend is in good hands. Everything will be fine."

The doors opened, and Jonathon pulled Beast Boy to his first stop in the long road to recovery.

* * *

**Commentary for the latest chapter can be found on my profile page. **


	3. Out of Reach

**Customary Disclaimer** The author in no way shape or form owns the places or characters used in the following written work, and is in no way profiting off of their use in any way except when concerning his own ego. This story, and the situations depicted in it, is entirely for entertainment purposes for those that may stumble upon it.

* * *

**Chapter 2** Out of Reach

_Raven hated many things in the world; though she was loathe to admit it to anyone. She preferred to stick with her passive expression and mysterious persona when she could help it, but she could easily remember numerous occasions that she could not remain quiet when a certain teammate of hers added something else to the list of things she hated. Raven hated ill thought-out attempts at humor. She hated video games. She hated the texture of tofu, but the taste was not too terrible though she would never admit it out loud. _

_She hated the city itself, which most other heroes would think odd. The city was too big for her taste, and the air was far too polluted. No one knew it but Raven was a bit of an environmentalist. She had never reached "Tree-hugging" level, nor did she feel the need to hug anything that was not sentient, but she still cared. She hated the fact that most criminals always seemed to pick the biggest, smoggiest, most industrialized parts of the city to build their evil lairs in. She hated that she still coughed herself to sleep because of it sometimes._

_Yes, there were many things Raven Roth hated in the world, but there was one thing that she hated the most. It was something dark, something unnatural, something evil. It was unfortunate for her that this very something now gripped her tightly in its clutches. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It would find her. It had already claimed the entirety of the tower, and now it had come to claim her._

"_You having a good time?" Garth, or Aqualad as he went by in the field, asked Raven politely as he swayed to the loud music in the background. _

_Raven hated parties, especially those of this magnitude. Individually, they were fine, but now… there were just far too many people around for her comfort._

_Aqualad was met with only a disinterested stare from Raven. "Right…" He quickly scanned the room for a way out. "I'm going to go," his voice trailed off as he failed to find a suitable distraction. Instead, he left it at that and did his best to dance back into the center of the room with the other guests without looking like a complete idiot. Raven was not one to engage in small talk with just anyone, no matter how ridiculously attractive the guy was. _

_The half demon sighed as she slowly looked around the room in boredom. Today was Kori and Richard's surprise engagement party (Victor's doing), and everyone was here. The tower was filled to the brim with friends and relatives (mostly Starfire's) of the lucky couple, and Raven could not help but feel uncomfortable. it was not that she was not happy for her friends, she was. It was just that the had been so obvious for the longest time and that everyone knew the engagement was coming long before the couple even did. It was like it was old news to Raven, and a party did not seem relatively necessary to her._

_She supposed that, on some level, the party was Victor's last laugh at Richard for waiting so long in both getting together and popping the question. When the newly engaged couple arrived back at the tower, Nightwing and Starfire were instantly greeted by a horde of people, above which hung a banner that read: They're __**finally**__ engaged! raven could clearly hear Nightwing swear under his breath and grumble something along the lines of never confiding in Cyborg again, though Starfire was too caught up in the bliss of the party to notice._

_Of course, Raven attempted escape back into her room shortly after, but something always held her back. Usually, it was a random charge and hug from Kori, which greatly contributed to her day getting worse and worse. Other times, she was lucky enough that someone felt the need to run up and talk to her just as she was about to walkout the door. It was odd, and she expected foul play. She would not put it past Cyborg to do something drastic like bribe the honoraries into keeping her tethered to the party. Something like that was usually Garfield's territory, but he would have taken it upon himself rather than hire others to do his dirty work._

"_Hey Rae," an all too friendly voice spoke as the owner leaned against the wall beside her. Speak of the devil. _

_Raven sighed as she gave Changeling a bored look. She had finally convinced Garfield to change his code name to something less ridiculous. Now, if only she could get him to stop telling jokes, but raven reveled in whatever small victories she could achieve. _

"_You're not having fun are you?" Changeling asked with his ever present smile on his face. No, she took that back. That smile was only there whenever he was talking to her. His other smiles were different. She wondered why that was, and why she had even bothered to notice._

"_I don't do-"_

"_Yeah, yeah," Gar waved his hand dismissively. "You don't do fun." Raven glared, but he continued. "I've heard that one before, and we both know that's not true. I'm willing to bet you somehow consider reading quietly fun. You're not into this loud, party type fun, but you __**do**__ fun on some level."_

_If she was not mad at him for sounding so pompous, she would have been impressed. As it stood, however, she only intensified her glare. Garfield glared back, but playfully. Thus, another impromptu glaring contest began. _

_Somewhere along the line, Changeling had decided to return Raven's glares with a glare of his own, just to see if he could throw her off. The result was Gar not being able to keep a straight face and doubling over laughing. Unfortunately, from then on he thought that if he could ever outlast Raven, she would have a similar reaction. The score so far?_

_Garfield broke eye contact and cracked up laughing._

_Raven remained undefeated._

"_But seriously," Changeling continued the conversation after his laughter died down, "I have a point. You do consider reading fun. I bet you even enjoy meditating when it doesn't feel like a burden. No, you're definitely into more calm, down-to-earth types of fun. Am I right?"_

_Raven's glare lessened. He was catching on. It was funny how the person who could push her buttons the most was now showing that he had the beginnings of some insight into her life. She did not know whether she should be grateful or terrified of the fact. _

"_I'm right," Gar smirked in satisfaction, causing Raven's glare to return full force. She should have never have been as obvious as to lighten it in the first place. _

"_Overconfidence will be your downfall, __**Garfield**__," Raven grumbled, folding her arms over her chest. "Be glad it's Kori's day, otherwise you'd have been out a window at 'Rae.'"_

"_Maybe," Changeling chuckled to himself. "But then again, when __**was**__ the last time you tossed me out a window, or even hung me from the ceiling or a wall for a while with your powers. Come to think of it," he rubbed the non existent facial hair on his chin in mock deliberation, "we don't argue much anymore either. Why is that?"_

"_You're imagining things. We argue plenty," Raven countered._

"_No we don't," Gar denied, unknowingly walking into his teammate's trap._

"_We're arguing now," the pale girl smirked in triumph upon seeing Gar falter, but hr victory was short lived. _

_Changeling pointed an accusing finger at Raven with laughter in his eyes. "You did that on purpose. That so doesn't count."_

"_Whatever," she waved her hand dismissively. "Just keep telling yourself that."_

"_I will!" He said oddly serious. "I'll say it so much that there won't be any doubt that we're becoming better friends, because we are." The laughter in his eyes vanished as he stared Raven down. She could not look away. "We're best friends, Rae."_

_Raven was taken aback. "Isn't that a bit extreme? I mean sure, we're friends, but everyone knows that you and Cyborg are best friends."_

"_Yea, but," he frowned, "I don't know. It's hard to explain. Cyborg's my best friend, but you… you're…"_

"_Creepy," Raven smirked at how the green Titan's eyes bulged._

"_No!" He waved his hands defiantly. "I mean, yea. I mean, kind of... Sometimes. Gah!" He gave up with a smile. "Why do you have to be so good at that? You must love messing with me sometimes." _

"_You're absolutely right." Raven sighed in mock defeat. "How in the world does someone like you know me so well?"_

"_Trial and error," Changeling stated jokingly, earning a shove from the half demon. _

~-~-~

AS much as Garfield was comforted by the fact that being able to hear what was going on around him still meant that he was not dead, he wished he was able to ignore it. It was an odd sensation, hearing complete strangers digging around in your own chest. The sounds would have given Beast boy nightmares if he was not currently living one. He was just thankful that he could not feel anything his body was being put though right now. That would have been just far too much to bear.

Thus, Gar was left with nothing else to do but listen intently to the doctors around him, searching for signs that the procedure was going well. Apart from a nurse quite verbally expressed her concern, or what is described in medical terms as 'freaked out,' about some of his inner organs having a slight shade of green to them as his skin did, the changeling thought that the procedure was going well for the most part. It was not long until the bullet was removed, his wound was removed, and his chest was stapled back together (Beast Boy thoroughly enjoyed the images his comatose mind came up for that one).

And then they were done, gone without a word. No "You're going to be okay, kid," or "Next time, try falling forward and not off a roof." Nothing. Beast Boy was left alone in silence. It was understandable, after all. No person would ever talk to an unconscious person in their right mind, let alone a doctor. It was silly to even think it, yet… some part of the changeling had hoped… had wished for some form of acknowledgement. There was none. Beast Boy, with only the soft beeps of the machines around him breaching the silence of the room to keep him company, fully grasped the situation for the first time. He was then left with a feeling he had tried his best to avoid ever since he had to watch his own parents die. Garfield felt completely and utterly alone, and it terrified him.

---

Morning could not come fast enough for the temporary denizens of Jump County hospital, most of whom had not slept at all. That fact held true for all of the Titans, save for Starfire who managed to cry herself to sleep. Nightwing comforted her as best he could as he always did. It was entirely normal for Kori to break down and weep whenever one of her friends. As part of race who embraced their emotions and displayed them proudly, it was hard for her not to. She loved her friends, every one of them, and hated whenever harm came their way. Yet, the day after her routine emotional outbursts, she always woke up refreshed and willing to do anything in her power to make her injured friend feel better.

Unfortunately, the remaining three Titans did not have that same luxury. Nightwing had observed how the others reacted, mostly because there was not much else to do in the dead of night sitting in the insanely uncomfortable hospital chairs.

Cyborg, by far seemed to be faring the worst. The concern for his best friend was painfully evident on the human side of his face. His brow was furrowed and a frown had not left his features ever since that nurse… scientist… whatever that woman was practically dragged the half metal man to the waiting rooms and forced them all to wait. Nightwing noted that his human eye was red. He had not been crying like Starfire. He just never blinked. Sometime in the night, he had stopped blinking and never started again. It did not take being brought up by the world's greatest detective to know why. Cyborg was so tired, he no longer trusted himself to have the willpower to open his eyes after blinking. He had to be awake whenever news of Beast Boy reached them. He had to.

As hard as he tried, Nightwing could not sympathize with his mechanical teammate. Richard had spent countless days without sleep before. He was used to it, but Cyborg certainly was not. Not with the end of his routine every day being a system-wide shutdown for at least six hours to recharge his main power source. He took that time to rest him human side as well, but right now, both sides were tired.

Raven was, as Nightwing expected, apparently doing well, though he never could quite tell with her. She was a mystery to him, one of the few he preferred to leave unsolved. He knew from watching her early quarrels with Beast Boy that she did not like it too much when people put the wrong puzzle piece in place. Nightwing was smart. He was not about to bite off more than he could chew. That was Garfield's job, and he seemed to enjoy it immensely. At one point in the night, Raven had felt his eyes on her and had turned to glare. Nightwing was oblivious to the things right in front of him at times, but even he could tell that her glare was hollow and put on for show. She was just as concerned as the rest of them, that much was certain.

As for Nightwing… he was not sure how he felt, or maybe he just did not want to dwell on it for too long. He was never one for deep introspection. It was always about the facts to him, never about how he felt about it. Sure, he was known to act on his emotions from time to time, but that was it. After things were said and done, he never bothered to think why he acted that way. Thus, he passed the time by going over the facts, never realizing that he was frantically searching his min for someone to blame.

When morning finally came, Sara found the Titans right where she had left them, causing a smile to form on across her face. It was obvious that the Titans cared for not only the city they were charged with protecting, but one another as well. It was one of the reasons why she volunteered to watch over them secretly. They were better than all the others, in her opinion. So many other groups of vigilantes came together merely because the added power helped them do their jobs more efficiently. Not the Titans. They were all the closest of friends. It was their greatest weakness, but also their greatest strength.

"Good morning, sunshines," Sara said teasingly as she walked over to the drowsy group of teens, idly flipping through pages on her clipboard. "I see the night has been good to at least one of you, at least. You three should learn from Starfire, there. At least she got some sleep."

"For your information," Raven deadpanned, though the two other conscious Titans recognized the deadly undertone in her voice, "Starfire cried herself to sleep in her grief last night. Her fragile emotional state could have been easily avoided if you or a member of your staff had bothered to give us regular updates on Beast By's condition. No such updates were offered." Raven's gaze was icy as she stared down the undercover S.T.A.R. labs employee. She had not been around for her official introduction of the Titans, but the impression she was giving now was not one that the empath appreciated. "I think what we can learn here is that you are highly inconsiderate of others' feelings, and that you owe m friend an apology when she wakes up."

Sara shot a sideways glance to Cyborg only to find that he was avoiding her gaze. They all felt that way, she realized furrowing her brow. "I told you yesterday that we have been prepared for something like this ever since we all took this position. We're not some group of random civilians. We're professionals. And even if we were regular doctors and nurses, you should respect our opinions and believe us when we tell you that everything is going to be okay."

"None of us doubt that you've been trained for this," Nightwing interjected, voice deep and groggy with sleep. "You're an employee of S.T.A.R. That alone commands a bit of respect. However, you may have the skills to work here, but you obviously haven't picked up the experience from doing the job. You would have known that that line never works, otherwise, especially when dealing with someone's family."

And there it was again. Even when they made her angry, Sara could not help but admire them. Maybe they did have a point. They **were** the closest thing each of them had to real family on Earth, anyway. She knew that… but she was undercover. Hospital policy dictated her action when dealing with civilians. Yet they were far from civilians. They were Titans, certainly the exception to the rule in most cases. Perhaps this was just another one of them. There were not many other patients that had to stay the night, anyway. No one would complain.

Sarah sighed. "Beast Boy was moved to a private room on the second floor an hour ago. Visiting hours don't start or another three hours," she relented suddenly finding an old coffee stain on the tile floor to be quite interesting, "but I suppose I could take you to see your friend now as long as you keep quiet." She still was not entirely convinced that she had been at fault at all in this situation, but the need to patch things over outweighed her own pride. This was the best she could offer.

"Fine," was all Nightwing said as he stood to his feet. The sounds of countless bones cracking echoed around the room, serving as proof that Nightwing had indeed not moved an inch throughout the night. Raven followed their leader's lead wordlessly, not even bothering to look at Sarah as she walked past, leaving Sarah alone with the unconscious princess and the half robot. They were still mad at her, though she could hardly blame them. In two mere confrontations, she had probably ruined their opinion of her. It was not until she felt an oddly comforting, cold hand on her shoulder that hope filler her again.

"It's not much," Cyborg said, giving the undercover scientist a small smile, "but it's a step in the right direction, Sarah. I'm proud of you." She looked at him quizzically. "I know how thick headed you can be at times, and it means a lo-"

Sarah quickly cut Victor off with a swift whack to the side of the face with her previously forgotten clipboard. "Thick headed, huh?" She glared. "You're lucky I don't shove this so far up you-"

"Yeah yea," Victor waved her off. "Shove it so far up my butt that it becomes my new power source." He rolled his eyes. "You've used that one before. I think last time, it was with a screwdriver." Cyborg laughed at the fake nurse's glare and walked past her. "I'm going to go find Rich and Rae before they get impatient and try to find Gar without you."

Sarah glared at Cyborg's back, suddenly wishing that she now had heat vision. That would show him. But then it dawned on her. "Wait! What about Starfire?" She was relieved to see Victor turn to face her again. "You aren't going to wake her up and take her with us?"

"Well, you see…. about that," the half machine rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I kinda agree with Rae on this. You **do** owe her an apology. And since you have business with her, I figure you can take care of waking her up too. So…. good luck with that."

"Good luck?" Sarah asked in confusion.

"Yea…" Cyborg slowly backed away towards the exit. "Star can be sort of 'clingy' when she first wakes up. We always force Nightwing to do the honors whenever she falls asleep on the couch, and it's…" He smirked and bolted from the room calling back, "You'll see for yourself."

Sarah frowned. "Odd," she said to no one in particular. It just sounded like the girl liked to be hugged in the mornings. Now, Sarah was not really the hugging type, but she felt she owed the poor alien girl. I could not be that bad, after all.

One spine breaking hug, an apology, and another hug later, Sarah found herself on the second floor, limping towards the changeling's room with Titans in tow. She cursed Cyborg for dumping such discomfort off on her. If she did not know better, she would have thought the whole reason the Titans left in search of Beast Boy's room so quickly was to avoid the responsibility of waking their _very_ strong teammate up. But that just could not be the case. They were all merely too worried for Gar to remember, at least that is what Sarah told herself to calm down as they neared Beast Boy's room.

Upon reaching the door to Beast Boy's room, Sarah sighed and turned to face the Titans. "Now, I'm breaking more than a few rules by letter you guys in here this early," she explained. "You have to promise me to keep it down. I know he's your friend," she added hurriedly, feeling their eyes on her, "but you also have to respect our other patients, even if there aren't a lot of them." Sarah took their silence for cooperation. sighing once again, she turned and led them through the doorway into Beast Boy's presence.

The room itself was fairly small, barely being able to accommodate them all. It was a private room saved for people who may have wished to save their hospital stay from being broadcast publicly. It had no windows, and the only means of connection to the outside world was a small television mounted on the wall opposing the hospital bed. The walls, as one would expect, were painted a horrible shade of light brown that would make any conscious patient want to make a full recovery as quickly as possible so that they could get out of there. Unfortunately, the room's current resident did not have the luxury of being motivated by it.

'_Finally,' _the unconscious Titan mentally sighed in relief_. 'Maybe whoever these guys are will be better conversationalists than the last guys. What's a devilishly handsome changeling got to do to get some company around here?'_ Throughout all that had happened, Garfield had not lost his sense of humor, even if he was the only one who was able to enjoy it.

The Titans gasped at the sight of Beast Boy before them. Both of his legs and his right are were bound in tight casts, and the loosely fitting hospital gown did little to hide the thick bandages wrapped around his chest. Nightwing frowned, noticing how pale he was. It definitely did not look like the same person who had been laughing at breakfast the previous day. The worst part, however, was Garfield's face. It had not taken any damage from the fall, but the expression on it was unsettling. The Titans were too used to being able to read Beast Boy with just one look at his face. Starfire was the only Titan more expressive than he was when it came to emotions, but the way he was now just was not Beast Boy. His face held no emotions at all. Not happy, not sad. Merely nothingness.

"What's wrong with him?" Nightwing asked, feeling very stupid for doing so. He had been there and had seen it first hand, yet the question had to be asked by someone. He was just the one to do it.

'_Richard?' _Gar was more than relieved to hear his friend's voice again. _'Dude, awesome. They're here.'_

Sarah ignored the redundant question and answered truthfully. "He came in with several cuts and bruises along his lower extremities. Those will take a few weeks to heal. While we were patching things up, we discovered that he broke both of his femurs, and his right arm is, to be perfectly honest, shattered. His les will have to stay in casts for at least a month, though his arm will take longer to heal conventionally."

'_Um… ouch. I'm suddenly glad I'm not awake for this. Though, I don't suppose I'm asleep either. I wonder what I am…'_ As gar's mind tended to do, it jumped to the worst possible scenario. _'Oh dear God, I'm dead!'_

"His condition is stable, and he's altogether progressing well. He should make full physical recovery in two months, three at the most if you want a more conservative guess."

'_Oh thank God.'_

Cyborg frowned. Something was not quite right with Sarah's tone of voice. It was almost as if she were presenting the good news first in preparation for the bad, but that did not seem likely. All this already seemed pretty bad. How could it possibly get worse? Then, it hit him. "Sara," stared the woman down with an all too serious expression on his face, "when is Beast Boy going to wake up. He's just on meds now, right? He'll wake up soon?"

The undercover woman's gaze shift to the floor guiltily. Cyborg's tone told her that he already had the answers. Still, now that the question ha been voiced, she could not avoid answering it. There was no use keeping it from them any loner. "We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't kno-"

"I mean what I said!" Sarah exclaimed, cutting off whoever it was that spoke. She wasn't sure. "We don't know when he'll wake up or even **if** he'll wake up. Comatose patients are like that. You're friend is in a coma, and whether he recovers from that or not is out of our hands. All we can do with something like this is make sure his physical injuries heal normally. The rest is up to him."

'_I'm in a coma?'_

"I am confused," Starfire spoke innocently. "I have seem many programs of the afternoon make mention of a person of high social stats being rendered in the state of comatose. Usually, he is awakened by a secret admirer proclaiming their undying love. Then they would kiss, and get married, and live happily from that moment onward. Should our current course of action then be to locate the girl tha-"

"Afternoon soap operas are hardly an adequate portrayal of reality, Star," Raven cut in quickly, pulling her hood up to hide her face. "By the very definition of a coma, Beast Boy is trapped in a state of unconsciousness that no outside stimulus can bring him out of. So, even if we scour the city to find the one girl insane enough to be attracted to_ him_, no amount of supposed love proclaimed would wake him up."

'_Dude, you didn't have to throw out Star's plan so soon. I'm all for it! All we need is someone to be in love with me. Too bad none of you guys are…unless __**you**__ want to confess something to me.. Cyborg?'_ Gar laughed mentally, but quickly sighed. Teasingly questioning his friend's sexuality just was not fun when he could not hear him to get mad at him.

"Raven…" Someone said in an admonishing tone.

"Sorry," the empath let out an exasperated sigh. "It's a force of habit when concerning Beast Boy. I apologize, Star, but a real coma isn't like those that you read in books or see on television. Real ones are very serious, and we should be happy that Beast Boy seems stable. People are said to go into and come out of comas every day. There's no reason for any of us to get worked up about it. He got injured, but he's going to recover. Conscious or not, Beast Boy isn't one to just give up. Trust me. I can attest to that."

"That's right," Sarah chimed in, trying to steer the conversation in a ore positive direction. "Beast Boy is going to be fine physically, and his brain activity is normal for those documented to be in a temporary comatose state. He'll be up and annoying poor Raven here in no time."

'_You know it, babe!'_

"Great," Raven said sarcastically. "Aren't I just the poster girl for luckiness."

"It could be worse, Raven," Cyborg chuckled. "You could be in his shoes and have to deal with the very real threat of the possibility of getting thrown out a window. You used to do that all the time."

Gar waited for Raven's response, but it never came. She remained oddly quiet after that.

"So, Beast Boy is injured relatively badly," Nightwing spoke in a questioning tone as he eyed the S.T.A.R. labs employee, "but he's recovering normally. He is currently in a coma, and no one can say for certain when he will wake up. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Sarah nodded.

"There is no reason to believe that his condition will turn fatal?"

'_Fatal?'_

"Comas are unpredictable, but my money is on fate being in favor of the green guy on this one."

Nightwing crossed his arms across his chest and took a deep breath. "When can we transport him back to the tower?"

"No!" Sarah almost yelled. "You aren't taking him anywhere. He needs medical care. You can't provide that at the tower. He stays here where we can keep an eye on him."

"You may be able to keep an eye on him here," Nightwing argued, "but you're certainly not prepared for a possible attack. Beast Boy s out of commission, and word of that will spread throughout the underground in this city. To be quite honest with you, from where I am standing, the next few months are going to be hell. Plain and simple. Every villain and their dog is going to try to take advantage of this, whether it be theft or vandalism in the city or an attempt on Beast Boy's very life. You can guarantee his physical well-being to a point, but when push comes to shove, **we** need to be there."

'_You know, I'd feel loved right now if half of what you said didn't make me sound like a liability to you guys. It's the thought that counts, I guess. I'll just toss this under the "Rich has no social skills" department.'_

Sarah faltered, but only for a moment. "You… you don't have the proper medical equipment at the tower."

"S.T.A.R. would donate it if we asked."

It was true. "You don't have the personnel."

"Cyborg is more than qualified."

So was that. "What if he takes a turn for the worse? What are you going to do over there alone? Victor can learn to operate the machinery in his sleep, but that won't save your friend."

"If that happens," Nightwing cast a sideways glance at Raven, "we'll get you to the tower."

Sarah clutched her brow with one hand and sighed. The Dark Knight's little trainee wasn't little anymore, and he had certainly learned a thing or two in terms of logistics and reasoning. An argument with him was pointless. "A week," she relented. "Give us a week with him here to observe him and make sure he stays stable. With any luck, he'll have woken up before then, and this whole argument will be pointless. If he's not awake in a week, then I'll make preparations for him to be transferred to your tower. Okay? Is that acceptable?"

'_Not really. I kind of want to be back at the tower now. There's something about this place I just don't like.'_

"Fine," Nightwing nodded before turning to his mechanical companion. "Cyborg, I want one Titan in the room at all times. One on guard outside it. One person on the roof, and I'll-"

"You are **not** moving into this hospital!" Sarah yelled, forgetting the fact that she had asked _them_ to keep it down. "I don't care if you want to argue, and I don't care if you disagree. You guys are not moving in here. You have a home already, and not only that but you have a city to protect. You said it yourself that people are probably going to take advantage of the situation, and you need to cover it. I'm not about to turn this hospital into your base of operations. At most, I will allow one of you to be in here at any one time, but the rest of you are going back to your home and getting some proper sleep. I know most of you need it."

Nightwing glared, but the fake nurse glared back unrelenting.

"You should listen to her, Wing," Cyborg broke the tension of the standoff. "Trust me, it's a miracle you even got her to think about allowing us to bring Gar back to the tower. When she's like this, though, I doubt there much you can say to change her mind. And right now, her mind is set on us at home, getting a nice recharge. I know I could use one personally."

"Fine," Nightwing said through gritted teeth. "I'm staying, thou-"

"I believe I will be the one that stays, Nightwing," Raven interrupted as she stepped out of a dark portal behind her. They had not even noticed her leave. "While you were arguing trivialities, I was getting my things." She held up a single leather bound book she had brought back with her to emphasize her point. "Besides, if Beast Boy's safety is what you are truly worried about, then I am the obvious choice to be left with guard duty. I am the only one who can avoid a fight effectively with him in tow."

'_Raven, I'm touched. I knew you couldn't stand being away from me. Don't deny it. You know you think I'm irresistible.'_

"That's true," Richard sighed. "I just.." His voice trailed off and was replaced with a loud yawn, causing a slight blush of embarrassment to spread across his cheeks. "I suppose I could use some actual sleep too. It's been a long night. Are you sure you don't want Star to take first watch. She was the only one of us to actually sleep."

"I'm fine," she waved his concern off. "I don't require much sleep anyone. I won't miss going without it for a day. It's no trouble. Now, go."

"But-" Raven did not allow them to contest her decision as she quickly opened a portal beneath them and forcibly sent the three of them back to the tower. They would find themselves in the common room couch slightly confused, but that was none of her concern. With a bit more effort, she managed to move the T-car from the parking lot safely into the tower garage. Cyborg certainly was already running down to the bottom level of the tower to go after his "baby," and having it there waiting would solve the problem before it manifested.

"Wow," Sarah smirked. "I wish I could do that during a bad date. It'd save me a lot of grief to be able to get rid of annoyance before he asks if we could go back to my place." She frowned when she noticed Raven was not even paying attention. Sarah had not even heard her move, but she was now seated quite comfortably in a bedside chair, idly reading the book she had brought. Raven was an odd one, that was certain, and she thought it best to leave the girl alone. She obviously wanted privacy.

And like that, the two opposite Titans were alone in a small, dimly lit room. It would have been romantic if it was not for the fact that one of them was comatose and the other was reading seemingly uncaringly. Garfield had been disappointed that Raven had ushered the others out so quickly, wanting nothing more than to at least listen to more of their conversation. There was not much else he could do, after all. However, the changeling soon found solace in the quiet sounds of Raven turning a page in her book from time to time. It was oddly soothing.

'_Just you and me now, Rae. And that book of course…'_

He was jealous and angry, though, as silly as it sounded. Here he was, injured and in pain. Well, he was sure he would have been if he were awake, but it was the principle of the thing. He deserved a little of her attention. It was a shame that he was unaware that Raven found her gaze constantly drifting towards Beast Boy, no matter how hard she attempted to concentrate on her book.

A shame, indeed.

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**Commentary for the latest chapter can be found on my profile page. **


	4. Terrifying

**Customary Disclaimer** The author in no way shape or form owns the places or characters used in the following written work, and is in no way profiting off of their use in any way except when concerning his own ego. This story, and the situations depicted in it, is entirely for entertainment purposes for those that may stumble upon it. The author hopes the reader of this story enjoys themselves, but is in no way, shape, or form responsible or vulnerable to any legal course of action if the reader, whoever he or she is, does not.

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**Chapter 3** Terrifying

_Like she did every day, Raven swiftly returned to the conscious world at exactly 5:59am. With the smallest hint of a smile, the dark girl rolled onto her back and relaxed into her soft bed. There was just something about mornings, especially early ones, that appealed to Raven. She did not know if it was the dark or night just beginning to be sundered by the morning sun, the knowledge that very few criminals chose to do anything in the early mornings, or if it was the calm, serene silence that filled the tower. She supposed it was the latter, but was not entirely sure. Whatever it was, mornings were Raven' favorite time of the day. She only wished they would last forever. _

_**beep beep beep**_

_Raven sighed as she rolled onto her side to reach towards her small bedside table and shut off her alarm. No matter how hard she wished, the morning always came to an end too quickly, and the alarm served as a sign that she should get up and begin her daily routine. She hated her alarm clock for that. Why did it want __**her**__ to be the responsible one in the tower? Why could she not be more like Garfield or Cyborg who choose to sleep in just because they feel like it? Of course, she knew the answer. The annoying alarm clock would not let her._

_Raven did not know why she even kept the alarm clock. She certainly had not needed one before, but Nightwing had insisted that she have one. His reasoning when he gave it to her was that because they all were out at odd hours of the night at times, it might be difficult to keep a normal sleeping schedule. However, as good of an excuse as that was, the fact that he gave it to her the day after she missed one of his morning training sessions did not help his case. If his mind was not on Slade, it was on Starfire, and if it was not on her, then it was on business. The empath had half a mind to accidentally "lose" it in the local garbage dump next time they were told to scour the city for signs of criminal activity. _

_Bt still, she held onto it. It was a gift with bad intentions, but still a gift. She always held onto her gifts, no matter how horrible. The stuffed chicken changeling had won her in their first trip to the carnival as a team was still stashed away in her closet, and Starfire's attempt at Fruit Cake last year was locked away in an air tight container keeping Malchior's book company. If she ever had a weak moment, Star's fruit cake would save her, which was more than she could say for the stuffed chicken. _

_Through her reminiscence, the purple haired teen lay glaring at her alarm clock. In truth, she did not feel like getting up just yet, and the thought of rolling over and forgetting all her cares as she enjoyed her feather-soft bed a little longer was more than tempting. There was no morning training scheduled, so she knew she could probably get away with it. After all, it was not unlike her to stay in hr room some mornings to meditate. They would merely assume that was what she was doing. Besides, the rest of the tower did not wake up for another two hours on normal days. She could still be out and about in a little over an hour with none the wiser. Yes, that sounded like a perfect plan. _

_Raven let our a sigh of pure contentment as she fell backwards onto her back and pulled the bed sheets haphazardly over her. She laid there, enjoying the pure, uninterruptible silence of the tower mornings. Everything was perfect._

_**thump**_

_The groggy half demon frowned. A noise was foreign to her mornings, and unwelcome. How dare something interrupt her silence. How could the noise not know she had been enjoying herself? Of course, with her luck, the noise probably happened __**because **__she was enjoying herself. 'It better not happen again,' Raven thought, glaring at the ceiling. She waited for a few minutes and did not hear anything. Surrounded by silence once again, Raven allowed the comfort of her bed to fully embrace her, slowly drifting back to sleep._

_**CRASH**_

_Raven shot out of bed and rushed out her door, half angry and half worried about what had caused the crash. Turning in the direction where the noise had come from, the empath strode down the hall not caring that she was still in her sleeping attire, which consisted of form fitting purple pajama pants and a black tank top. It was on very rare occasions that raven was seen out of uniform, and even then it was just civilian clothes. Her sleeping attire was a mystery to the outside world. But today, she followed the cat's example and allowed curiosity to get the better of her. _

_Hearing no further indication of any noise, Raven reached out with her empathic powers in an attempt to pinpoint what had made the noise. It obviously had not made itself, meaning that something had cased it, and if that something was alive she would be able to feel whatever it had felt after making the sound. She passed the room directly adjacent to her own first and felt nothing. That was normal. That specific room was empty. When the group first moved into the tower, Raven was the last to pick a room, and she made sure to pick one two rooms down from the nearest co inhabitant of the tower. She did, after all, held privacy in very high regards, and did not want hrs to be invaded, whether intentionally or accidentally. Unfortunately, despite the tower holding top of the line technology, the truth was that the walls were paper thin, and she cold have picked a room ten doors down and still face interruptions. _

_Cyborg's room was next. Raven reached out with her powers and tapped into her mechanical friend's surface emotions. Instantly she retracted, wide eyed and with a blush on her face. Obviously Victor was in the middle of a dream that was best left to himself. After struggling to regain her composure, the empath left for the next room in the hallway. _

_She did not need the nameplate on the door to identify the room as Changeling's. His emotions were broadcast almost the loudest out of anyone Raven had come in contact with. He made little effort to hide what he as feeling, and the dark girl doubted that he ever could given the strength of his emotions. Usually his emotions were jovial in nature, only sometimes breaching into the depressed category, but now they were different. He was frustrated, that much was apparent, but she detected a hint of anger and self loathing. It would have felt like he was just having a bad dream if they were not as strong as his emotions usually were. He was awake, but she did not know if he was the one who actually made the noise._

_**thump**_

_Bingo. Not even thinking about Gar's possible state of undress, Raven quietly slid the door open and looked for the exact reason she was going to kill him for making her get up from her comfortable bed. _

_Boxes. Apparently the reason was boxes, several… dozen… boxes. Changeling's room was filled with them. Most were stacked as high up as the ceiling, while others were strewn across the room haphazardly where a stack had fallen over. That certainly answered where the noises Raven had heard came from, now she just had to find the person that tied everything together. Where was he?_

_A loud "meep" and a green blur answered her question as Garfield rushed past his unannounced visitor towards a stack of boxes that was in the process of tumbling over. The green man barely made it in time, managing to use his own body as leverage to right the falling stack. Letting out an exhausted sigh, Changeling relaxed a bit. He had a lot of work ahead of him, but he still enjoyed taking time out to procrastinate as much as possible. He would not be himself if he did not._

"_Morning," came Raven's slightly amused monotonous voice from Gar's doorway, causing him to jump and almost knock over the stack of boxes he had just saved. "You're certainly up early."_

_Changeling blushed in embarrassment and looked away. Not only had he been caught doing something productive in his free time, which was not something he was known to do, but he now stood victim to Raven's prying eyes in nothing but the black pajama pants he slept in. The gender difference between the two was very evident in his mind right now._

"_I-I was.. uh," he stammered, still trying to keep his eyes away from Raven's. "I was just.." His voice trailed off and he mumbled the rest of his answer, hoping that Raven had not heard him. _

_She did._

"_What was that?" The empath asked bemusedly. "I thought I heard you say that you were cleaning your room, but that can't be right. You haven't cleaned your room since you were Beast Boy. Besides," she gestured towards the mounds of boxes around the room, "it looks more like you're moving out than cleaning." Raven frowned subconsciously. That actually did look like what he was doing. The realization bothered her for some reason. _

"_Well, normally I wouldn't," the prankster Titan admitted sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, "but I was really bored, and I noticed that I let al my junk pile up for so long that it was waist deep in some areas. As much as I dislike it, I had to do something. Did you know I had __**tile**__ floors?"_

_Raven could almost smile… if doing so would not have risked destroying a box or a light fixture in the room. Garfield was actually being responsible, albeit a bit late in the game. Still, like the old saying goes, better late than never. She was proud of him. Maybe he was growing up finally. Not in age or in looks, he certainly was starting to look the part of an adult, but in maturity as well. _

_As her thoughts grazed the point of his looks, she realized that, like her, Garfield was in a similar state of undress. Barefoot, shirtless, and wearing only a pair of loose fitting pants, it was obvious that he was in his own sleeping attire. If the changeling had indeed been cleaning his room, then he probably had not gotten any sleep at all the night before, if the sheer number of boxes and the sweat that covered his body was any indication. _

_That sweat kept Raven's eyes glued on him. Normally she would have found any form of perspiration disgusting and unclean, but right now… Azar, she hated her hormones at times. He looked good, certainly better shirtless than she would have guessed. He was not as muscular as Nightwing, or as tall as Cyborg, but what little he had was filled out to near perfection. Raven did not want to admit it, but she was compelled to, like an unknown force was guiding her in the right direction. At the moment, Gar was more than moderately…_

"_My eyes are up here, Rae," Gar laughed as he pointed to his eyes. "Ya like what you see?"_

_Busted. Like a deer in a car's headlights, Raven looked on wide eyed and still, a very evident blush spreading across her cheeks. How long had she been staring? Oh dear lord, she did not even know she __**was**__ staring, and she had been caught. She had been caught by the person she was staring at, Changeling. He was going to have a field day with this if she could not think of a way out fast._

"_What do you mean?" Raven did her best to sound nonchalant. "I was just thinking." A half lie._

"_No you weren't," Gar shook his head smiling. There was something about Raven's almost dazed expression earlier that gave him confidence he did not know existed. "When you're thinking, you get this little crease above your nose. You didn't have that crease." He took a step closer. "You were staring."_

"_I was not staring," she denied, unknowingly digging herself in a deeper hole as she basically admitted that she had not been thinking like she claimed/._

"_Yes you were." Another step, another smile. "You're blushing too."_

"_I'm not blushing! It's just hot in here." A full blown lie._

_Gar chuckled. "Thank you."_

"_Not you, moron! The room." A blatant lie. She reached behind her head to grab her hood only to realize that she was not in her uniform. The fact that she was alone with Gar in his room with the two of them only in their pajamas just made her blush harder. Stupid hormones. For the first time in her life, she wished her demon half was more dominant than her human one._

_Oh Azar, she felt so stupid right now. Raven, the most calm and mature of the lot of them had just been reduced to a bumbling little girl who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. It was a situation she was not used to, but she was kicking herself for settling for an obvious excuse like "It's just hot in here." She was better than that. Why was her brain on vacation? A few seconds later, she knew the answer. It was because the changeling had taken another step towards her._

_She was being hunted. At least that's what it felt like, regardless of that was what Garfield was intending. He was not using a gun to hunt her but what he __**was**__ using was just as unsettling, and in either case, Raven was at a loss as to what she should do. He was right in front of her now, and every muscle in her body was frozen solid. The door was open behind her, but she was still trapped._

"_You're still blushing," Gar spoke softly as he leaned down to stare at her eye to eye. "And ya know what, Rae?"_

_When had he gotten so tall? He'd been taller than her for years now, but she never felt this small around him. This was not right. Things were way out of her comfort zone now. She had to get away, get away from him. It would be easy. All she had to do was fling him against a wall and yell at him for being too close and invading her personal space. She had done it before, and not just to just him. Yes, that was exactly what she would do. _

"_What?" What? __**WHAT?**__ That was not yelling. That was not getting away from the uncomfortable situation. That was downright inviting it to go on. Why?!? What was wrong with her today? More than anything, Raven now wished she had stayed in bed today and ignored the thumping that echoed throughout the tower. _

"_You shouldn't hide yourself in your hood when you blush, Raven," Gar smiled an odd smile Raven had not seen before, "because you look beau-"_

_**CRASH**_

_Raven praised Garfield's limited box stacking abilities as the sound rang throughout the room, causing the changeling to jump backwards like he had gotten too close to something hot. Gar turned and shot a glare at the box in question, as if scolding the inanimate object for the interruption. Gar frowned when he noticed that the box had opened up on its side, and that the contents where now strewn out all along the floor._

"_Oh man," the changeling sighed. "I just got everything packed away, too. These boxes are faulty, I swear." Garfield righted the fallen box, and knelt down to gather up his lose belongings, tossing them back where they came from one by one. _

_He stopped as he picked up an old picture frame and gazed down at it with, what raven could only describe as… loneliness? That was an odd thing to look at a picture and feel. Raven's curiosity once again got the better of her and she too took a glance at the picture. It was of a family, she supposed, but not of any that the Titans had come across. The man, and who Raven assumed to be his wife were standing proudly behind a small boy with golden blonde hair, all three smiling happily. _

_Brushing aside her current train of thought, Raven quickly realized that this was her golden opportunity to escape. Changeling was distracted, and definitely not giving her that smile that made her feel so… She shook her thoughts away. Now was not the time. Without even mumbling a goodbye, the empath turned and rushed out the door. As Raven made her way briskly back to the comfort of her own room, Raven could not get his last smile out of her mind. It was not a smile of happiness, or one made jokingly. That smile held nothing but sincerity, and it terrified her. _

~-~-~

_**Tragedy: Beloved Hero in Coma**_

That was the headline that was posted in the papers two days after Beast Boy was hospitalized. Someone had leaked the information to the press, and although Nightwing put the entire hospital staff through a severe interrogation, whoever it was was still a mystery. The Titans lacked the time to follow through on the investigation until the end. They were simply too busy. It seemed that every villain they had encountered in the past decided to take this time to lash out at the Titans with renewed vigor. The team of vigilantes did not get a full night's sleep the entire week.

Garfield, on the other hand, was doing well, as much as anyone in a coma could do. In fact, the only danger the green hero had been put in was when Bill Numerous and Wicked, no longer kids, decided to go after the seemingly helpless Titan personally. They were able to infiltrate Gar's room without alerting the undercover professionals of S.T.A.R. labs. Once inside, the pair came face to face with their target… and Raven. Raven had left them alive, but that was all the mercy she showed. Apparently, it had not been a good day to make her mad.

Although he could not express his gratitude, Beast Boy was very grateful to have his own guardian angel watching over him from then on. Nightwing had practically ordered Raven to confine herself to Garfield's room after that, at least until the set week had past and they were able to move their teammate back to the safety of the tower. The half demon did not argue, though Nightwing got the feeling that she would have stayed even if he had ordered her to leave. Thus, the Titans were effectively down two people while in the field, but they made do. They had to.

Finally, after a full week of endless confrontations, the day had come to move Garfield back to the tower. His condition had not worsened, although it had not improved either. The changeling's neural activity was still normal, but did not suggest that he was coming out of his comatose state anytime soon, though there was no way to tell for sure. These kinds of things took time and patience, after all.

And so, Garfield found himself situated in the tower's medical bay, despite Sarah's protests. She had wanted to keep him another week, though it was an obvious pretense to ease the Titans into allowing him to stay in their care permanently. However, coupled with the increasing amount of attacks on the city, and the attempt at Garfield's own life days prior, Nightwing had none of it. They needed a fourth Titan out in the field, and to do that, they had to make sure Beast Boy was someplace safe without a bodyguard.

That was how Beast Boy found himself alone today in the medical bay. It had been no more than fie minutes after his friends had gotten him settled in before the familiar sounds of the alarm echoing throughout the tower. Out of habit, Gar attempted to rush out the door to the common room before he realized he was not moving at all. He let out an exasperated sigh in his mind when he heard the rest of the Titans succeed where he had failed. Even Raven left, which disappointed the green man. Beast Boy enjoyed the time she had spent watching over him. It was comforting to know she was there, and now that comfort was gone.

'_I guess there's no reason for her to stick around anymore,'_ Garfield sighed again. _'Someone had to protect me, after all. She __**did**__ volunteer, though. That's gotta count for something.'_ It probably did, but he had grown accustomed to her presence in his week at the hospital. In truth, he could not stand the fact that she was away.

He missed her. God, she had been gone for five minutes now, and he already missed her. He was pathetic, or at least he felt that way. He could not stand being alone. Gar wanted her there. He_ needed_ someone there to keep his mind occupied. Otherwise… he was left with nothing but himself. One of his greatest fears was being utterly and completely alone, and that was what he was right now.

That was partly the reason he acted the way he did. Beast Boy tried to get everyone he met to like him and be friends with him. After losing his parents and the Doom Patrol, he decided to do everything in his power to hold on to whatever friends he could get. They were the most important things to him in his life. His friends shielded him from the darkness, and helped him nearly forget having witness his own parents fall to their deaths. He never would forget, but having friends helped him cope.

Raven was different, though. It was obvious that even after what she said at their first meeting, she did not find the changeling the least bit humorous. He was closer to an annoyance to her, but even though he knew that, he could never stop trying. He was scared. He was scared _for_ her. Raven was pushing everyone away like she wanted nothing more than to be alone for the rest of her life. Someone like that was not normal, Garfield had thought. In his mind, no one should ever be alone. Everyone should be happy, should be able to laugh and have fun with friends. He tried, and tried, and tried again. Even though she never showed the slightest bit of interest, Garfield still tried. It was important to him, and he would not stop for the world.

Then he learned how her powers worked, why things were destroyed when she lost control, and of her lineage. But Garfield still tried. If anything, he tried harder. Raven may never be able to feel normally, may never be able to laugh, may never be able to smile, but he still tried, just not for the same reasons as before. He tried now because he had to show her something, something that could not be proven with just words. He accepted her and her past, and they were friends regardless. That meant something to the changeling.

'_But it obviously didn't mean much to her,' _Beast Boy grumbled. Even he knew that it was an insane allegation. He did not even know why he had thought it. He was just frustrated, bored, and alone, a combination that did not make for a safe, introspective environment. Thinking was not a very good idea right now, but not much of anything else could be done. In the end, he settled for complaining like a child who was not getting his way. _'Come on! I'm bored. Why aren't you guys back yet?'_

_**beep… beep… beep…**_

His answer was the soft beeping of his heart monitor echoing throughout the room.

He hated that noise.

'_I hate that noise.'_

That noise had always been there, ever since he arrived at the hospital a week ago. It was there throughout his surgery. It was there throughout the days. And it was there throughout the nights. If it had not been for Raven's soothing presence, Gar would have described his stay at the hospital to be nothing short of torture. He had hoped when his friends had come to rescue him from the hospital, he would be free of the beeping. In truth, his familiarity with it had only just begun. It seemed that no matter where he could go, the beeping would follow, and it was nowhere near as comforting as his friends' presence was.

After all, it was that noise that signified both life and death for him. As long as the noise persisted, he was alive and recovering. Yet, if the noise faltered, he would die. Beast Boy was in a conundrum. On one hand, he hated the noise with a passion, and would give anything to have it leave him alone. On the other hand… he very much liked the prospect of not dieing.

So, Garfield chose to live with it, not that he had a say in the matter anyway. He merely stopped complaining…mostly. Instead, he attempted to think of a way to pass the time, and since the heart monitor was the only audible noise in the room, whatever h decided on had to revolve around it. After eight thousand heartbeats and two lost hours of his life, Beast Boy resigned himself to the fact that counting them may not have been his brightest idea. It only served to heighten his frustration and loathing of the infernal beeping. Still, the other Titans had not returned, and boredom was becoming more prevalent with each passing second. He had to do something to keep his sanity.

'_I wonder if I can change my heartbeat.'_ The idea was odd, and entirely random. It was an obvious product of boredom, but Gar grasped it and did not let it go.

Under normal circumstances, a person's heart rate is controlled by their subconscious, though it is possible to slow one's heartbeat by placing the body in a state of calm. Unfortunately for Garfield, having his body in a coma was about as calm as it was going to get. So, he settled on trying to get his heartbeat to speed up.

He thought of all the things that caused a person's heart to race. Fear was an obvious choice, and so was excitement. Yet, those were out of the question. If his attempt was going to b successful, he was going to have to trick his subconscious into thinking that he was genuinely excited or afraid. Something like that seemed to fall closer to Raven's abilities, sounding like it resembled something close to meditation. He had tried that once, but… it had not ended well. Gar eventually settled on something a little more his league, thinking.

Thinking was not something he was generally known for, but he had a certain aptitude for it. He had come up with some bright ideas when left alone to think… though he has also thought up some more stupid ones as well. Who knew cleaning the dust out of the gamestation as a tic would have turned out to be a bad idea. It was not his fault that Cyborg had to show up and decide to play a game while he was in there. He had almost died!

_… _

Bingo! Garfield supposed he could get himself to naturally feel fear after all. He could also chalk up "Fear of Death" as something that got his heart racing. He wondered what else he could think of that would work. Gar waited until his heartbeat settled down again before he thought of something else, specifically people.

Cyborg was first up on Gar's "List of People to Think About to Pass the Time." It was a natural choice. The half machine was his best friend after all. They had stuck together through thick and thin, even after Beast Boy had crashed his systems… crashed the T-car the first time he had been allowed to drive it… crashed the tower security… crashed the gamestation. Now that Gar thought about it, he had pretty much crashed anything electronic that belonged to Cyborg at one point or another. Yet the metal man never questioned their friendship. If anything, all those times just made it stronger in a weird, "I'll get you back for that" sort of way. He never really stopped to think about it, but he was glad he had met Cyborg. Beast Boy doubted there was another guy like him in the world.

Gar frowned mentally. No change in his heart rate.

Nightwing… Robin… Richard… whoever he wanted to call himself was next. Gar did not know much about Nightwing other than his in-uniform persona. Richard pretty much kept his personal side to himself, with the exception of Starfire, whom had sworn to secrecy. The one thing that Beast Boy did know about Nightwing was that the two of them did not really get along in the early years of the Titans. it seemed that if he was not getting yelled at by Raven for annoying her, he was getting yelled at by Robin for doing something wrong. But that changed after Slade manipulated Terra. Maybe it was sympathy or maybe Nightwing saw a kindred spirit of sorts in him, but their relationship transformed into the friendship they had now because of it. Beast Boy was glad it had. Nightwing was a good friend, and a great leader.

Still nothing, nothing but the calm heartbeats that had echoed around him the past week. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. Guys were obviously not having an affect on him, which at least meant that he was not gay.

'_Too bad for that dude we met in Mexico. He's going to be disappointed,' _Beast Boy laughed, but quickly shuddered mentally at the memory at that particular "fan." _'I am __**so**__ never going back there again.'_

At any rate, Gar allowed his mind to drift to his female teammates.

Starfire was like a distant cousin to Garfield, a cousin that likes to dress in provocative clothing and not think twice about it. But… that was really all he ever thought about her. They were friends, sure, but his thoughts never crossed the line of friendship even though what she wore gave plenty of opportunity for them to. It dawned on him that the two of them really were not that great of friends. They cared about each other's well being, but… they really never interacted apart from pudding or random jokes. That bothered Gar. He was going to have to make an effort after he recovered.

He was disappointed in himself. He had tried his best to befriend all of the Titans, and he was only now realizing that he had nearly forgotten one of them. Of course, he was not without a reason for his neglect. He was always busy trying so hard with the others, especially the _other_ female occupant of the tower. Most of his attention **had** been on Raven.

_..beep_

'_Shut up!' _Beast Boy yelled at the heart monitor. _'You're worse than Cyborg about this, and __**he**__ is my friend. __**You're**__ just an annoying beeping machine!'_

If he did not hate the beeping before, he certainly did now. Cyborg had the teasing on that particular subject covered, and Gar definitely did not need another stupid machine to join in. When he woke up from his coma, the first thing that the changeling was going to do was destroy that annoying monitor. Then they would see who has the last laugh, or beep in the heart monitor's case.

"Injured friend, we have returned!" A cheery voice boomed from the doorway.

'_Yes! Now, for the love of God, __**entertain me**__!' _

_beep... beep... beep. beep. beep..._

Garfield was terribly bored, yes, but something else was wrong. He had been too caught up in trying to keep himself occupied to notice the feeling that had been growing stronger in the back of his mind ever since the Titans had left. Now, it was far too obvious for him to overlook any longer. _'Why do I suddenly feel dizzy?'_

_...beep. beep. beep. beep. beep. beep...  
_

"Yea, sorry man," Cyborg's voice echoed throughout the room as he stepped through the doorway. "Mumbo decided to try his luck today. It took us a while, but…" Cyborg's voice trailed off as the sounds of the changeling's dangerously high heart rate reached his ears. "Beast Boy!"

Garfield's mind went silent in fear. The concern in his friend's voice just then shook him to the core.

"Victor?" Starfire sad his name questioningly, having noted his concern as well.

"No time, Star," He spoke hurriedly. "I need you to get me 30cc's of…" He paused, realizing that any medical terminology would probably lost on the alien girl. "Just get me the syringe and the blue vial on the counter over there. Yes, those are the ones. Thank you." Victor took the items from the girl and quickly filled the syringe with the appropriate amount of the liquid.

"Sorry, BB," Cyborg hesitated as he pointed the syringe at his friend's arm. "I know enough about you to know that you hate needles, but I don't really have an option right now."

"What's going on?" Nightwing seemed to appear out of thin air, but Victor did not even flinch as he punctured the skin on Beast Boy's arm and injected the medicine.

"BB was crashing when we got back," Cyborg said with a shaky voice. "We're lucky… we're really lucky we got back when we did. If we hadn't…"

"Don't worry about that," Nightwing cut him off. He had to keep the team thinking positive, especially at a time like this. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He should be," Cyborg sighed.

It was an odd feeling to be able to sense first hand one's own body stabilizing after a short, but serious situation like that. It was like the dark clouds that had gathered in his mind unnoticed slowly cleared, and he could see for the first time. Not literally, of course. He was not that lucky, but what little senses he retained while in a coma were heightened to their proper levels. He had not even realized that the voices of his friends had sounded so distant before. Now they were coming in loud and clear, almost painfully so.

Beast Boy heard a collective sigh of relief from the trio hovering above him as his heart returned to pumping at a normal rate several minutes later.

"He's stabilizing," Victor spoke up, feeling the need to state the obvious. "The little grass stain pulled through."

"Any idea what caused this?" Nightwing asked. As a friend and a team leader, he needed to make sure the situation did not repeat itself later. They had to find out why things went wrong, and fix it.

"I don't know," the half machine admitted. "He was fine when we left, and I gave him his meds before leaving. In all honesty, this should not have-" He let out a gasp as his eyes scanned Beast Boy's IV, immediately seeing the problem. "I… messed up."

"What?!"

"I gave him the wrong dosage," he elaborated, turning away and placing an arm on the wall for support. "We were in a hurry, and… Oh God, I overdosed him. he could have… I almost killed him, man." It was his fault, all his fault. God, how could he have been so stupid. Victor had taken charge of beast Boy's medication, and his first day on the job, he screwed up.

"Friend Victor," Starfire spoke up in an attempt to be the voice of reason, "it is not your fault. If t were not for you, then Beast Boy would not have recovered just now."

"Yea, well, if it weren't for me, he wouldn't have needed recovering to begin with," Cyborg countered. "Face it; I was a damn fool to think I could handle this. Cuts, bruises, and minor things Raven can't heal I can handle, but this," he chanced a glance at his best friend, "we should have never taken him from the hospital. If we were having trouble with crime fighting, we could have called in some of the old honoraries. Retired or not, a lot of them would have been more than happy to help out."

'There's a reason most of them are retired, Cyborg," Nightwing stood firm. "They have lives now, something other than a uniform. I'm not going to ruin that for them. I won't. They are all happy, and I can't ask them to risk their lives for us again." He looked his friend straight in the eye before adding calmly, "If you guys were in their shoes, I'd have the decency to let you guys be happy."

"Fine," Cyborg growled. "But we're taking him back to the hospital, and I'm staying there this time."

"We can't do that either."

"Then what do you suggest we do?!" Victor turned and yelled angrily, causing Kori to flinch.

"Victor," Starfire meekly interjected. "You must not blame yourself. We all know that you would not harm Garfield in any way, even though you enjoy threatening to do so over morning breakfast. He is your friend as he is ours, and we would do anything for him. If given the opportunity, I do not believe you would make the same mistake twice."

"Star is right, Cy," Richard said. "You made a mistake. We all do. It's what makes us human, and if I'm not mistaken, it was you guys that taught me that I shouldn't dwell on the mistakes of the past and concentrate on the future. So take your own advice, here. Beast Boy needs you."

"I don't know, man." Cyborg sighed.

"Look, if you really need someone to hold your hand and look over your shoulder, then go ahead and teach Raven everything there is to know about this stuff. That way **if** you make another mistake, which I believe you won't, Raven will catch it and correct it. No harm, no foul."

Cyborg was silent as he pondered the idea. On one hand he was a bit insulted. The way Richard had worded it made it sound like he thought he was acting childish. On some lee, he admitted that he was, but it was only out of concern for his friend. He had almost killed his best friend today. How was he supposed to react? Was he just supposed to say "Woops. My bad." and move on? No, he did not believe so.

On the other hand, event though Nightwing had suggested he train Raven as a makeshift nurse to just get a rise out of him and force him to step up to his responsibilities, the prospect of a second opinion was rather appealing. he had to admit that he too did not believe he would make the same mistake twice, but like Nightwing said, he was only human. To err is human, after all. Having someone else around would act as a safety net of sorts, and h did not think the secluded girl would mind any extra books he had on the subject that he could lend her.

"I think I'll do that," he replied eventually with a slight nod. "Just do me one favor. No matter what, don't tell Raven how I screwed up today."

"Why?" They both asked simultaneously.

Garfield would have laughed if he had witnessed the mechanical Titan suddenly go pale before answering.

"Because I don't want to die."

Throughout the heated conversation going on around him, Garfield began to realize that he really did not have any control of the situation at all. Thinking that he was able to manipulate his own heart rate had given him a brief bit of hope that things were going to be okay. However, Cyborg's admission had made him realize that no matter what he did, or who he thought about, he could not change what his body was going through. He was injured, helpless, and in a coma, and although though some twist of fate he could hear what was going on around him, he had no influence over any of it. Life or death, Gar was merely along for the ride, and that terrified him.

* * *

**Commentary for the latest chapter can be found on my profile page. **


	5. Nurse Raven

**Customary Disclaimer** The author in no way shape or form owns the places or characters used in the following written work, and is in no way profiting off of their use in any way except when concerning his own ego. This story, and the situations depicted in it, is entirely for entertainment purposes for those that may stumble upon it.

* * *

**Chapter 4** Nurse Raven

_Raven did not know how she had gotten herself into the mess she now found herself in, or even why she did so voluntarily. The whole thing was just so un… Ravenish, but she could not back out now. Doing so would mean she would have to clean up the mess she was in ad put everything back to normal, and despite her cleanly nature, a mess of this stature was not something she was in a hurry to get her hands dirty in. So, she was forced to press onward in her perilous journey to master an art that had escaped her until now._

_Cooking._

_Raven had tried to cook once before with little success, but now she found herself glaring down at the stove with fierce determination in her eyes. Her task this time would not be as easy as pancakes. After all, Cyborg kept gallons of pre-mixed pancake and waffle batter stowed away for easy and quick use. All she had done that time was pour the batter on the stove and flip them when they seemed ready. Black, apparently, was not the sign she should have been looking for, and after that monumental failure, she had given up on cooking altogether… until today._

_It was all Starfire's fault. The naïve redheaded alien had returned from one of her trips to the mall with one of those "feminine" magazines that usually contained an assortment of useless quizzes that yielded highly inaccurate results. The "Would you make a good wife?" quiz had been the one to peak Starfire's interest and start all this mess. _

_Raven could somewhat understand the alien girl's curiosity. She __**was**__ scheduled to get married within the year. It was only natural for a woman to desire to be a good wife for her husband if she is truly in love, which Starfire undoubtedly was. Where Raven drew the line was having to rely on an inanimate object to tell you if you would or not. However, she held her tongue, especially after hearing Starfire's over joyous cry of celebration upon receiving a perfect score. If her friend was happy, then Raven had no right to complain, even if that happiness resulted from a magazine filled with untruth and propaganda. _

_Raven's acceptance of the situation ended when Starfire thought it best to quiz her next. The empath had tried, she really had tried to get out of it, giving every excuse she could think of without hurting the fragile girl's feelings. But a happy Starfire was a stubborn entity, even more so than Raven at her worst. Raven had lost their battle of wits and soon found herself forcibly seated at the couch at the mercy of Starfire's purchased questionnaire. _

_It came as no surprise to Raven when she failed…. quite miserably. In fact, the only question where she had gained a positive score was where she had answered that she was a good listener and could help with her imaginary husband's problems. _

_She could not guarantee being able to express her love every day without her powers getting involved._

_She could not expect herself to clean up after anyone but herself._

_She could not bear the concept of children at this point, let alone imaginary ones._

_She could not smile when her husband might need it._

_She definitely, without a doubt, could not cook for the life of her, let alone the favorite meal of someone else._

_By the results of the quiz, Raven, it seemed, was not the marrying type, nor should she ever consider even a relationship with anything. Raven had known what the results were going to be before the questioning had even started, but still… she could not help but feel a little hurt hearing her friend solemnly announce it to her. Ravens stood strong, though, refusing to let it get to her. Even after Starfire left the room almost in tears, Raven merely shrugged it off and went back to her own reading material, one that would not judge her by a few simple questions. _

_And yet… it ate at her. Throughout the day, a nagging voice in the back of her mind would not let her forget the results. It had gotten so bad that at one point that she had just snapped near the end of the day and yelled at the closest living thing at the top of her lungs for something small that they may have done. Raven did not even know who it was that she yelled at. The entire second half of her day had been lost in a red eyed blur, and she was afraid that she may have sad something too terrible to take back. Hopefully, her friends would just chalk it up as another argument that Raven took part in all too fervently. She was a master of that, after all. They would understand, and they would forgive her._

_But knowing that did not calm the nagging in her mind. After she had retreated to her room, it had only intensified. So, it was after midnight, after the rest of the tower had fallen into a peaceful sleep that Raven gave in to the nagging voice. It was right. With her powers, she probably would not make a good wife even if she tried. Nevertheless, even if it was futile, Raven was going to try. She did not know why. She did not know how. She just knew she had to take one step, just one small step in the right direction. _

_Soon after, Raven found herself standing in the kitchenette area of the common room, looking similar to a lost child in a store. She had no idea how she was going to pull this off, but one thing was for certain. Come hell or high water, she was going to make a proper breakfast this time, and even if it took all night, it was going to taste and look normal._

_That had been two hours ago. Now, half the kitchen was covered in either instant waffle mix, or egg yolk that had somehow escaped the frying pan. Even Raven herself had not come away from things unscathed. Her cloak was now unnaturally stained a light brown, and she was sticky in places that were most uncomfortable. She was distressed, dirty, and overall grumpy at the situation, but at least she had made __**some**__ progress. The eggs were no longer finding a way to set themselves on fire, and the waffles were coming out a little less black and a little more of their natural brown. By all accounts, it seemed that she was starting to get the hang of this "cooking" thing, or so she hoped. Raven did not know exactly when the other Titans awoke from their usual slumber, but she hoped that today would not be the day she would find out for sure. This, after all, was not the type of situation she would like to be walked in on._

"_You know," a most unwelcome voice rang out from behind her, "if you weren't covered in real eggs, I'd say you looked positively delicious, Raven."_

_At the sound of the intruding voice, Raven's body went ridged. She cursed herself silently. After so many encounters with Jynx, she should have known better than to allow herself to walk right into one blindly. She wished she could go back in time a mere minute and stop herself from being so foolish, but such a feat was impossible. At the moment, there was no escaping the cold hard fact that someone had caught her in the act. All there was left for her to do was turn around and face her oncoming embarrassment. _

_Clutching her cloak protectively around her body, Raven let out an audible sigh and turned to face the intruder. The intruder in question could not have been someone worse. In all honestly, she should not have been surprised as to who it turned out to be. No one else would have dared to make a comment like they had, especially not at and about her. Everyone else was smart enough not to throw away their lives so foolishly. Not this person. Never him._

"_Good morning, Changeling," Raven greeted him trying to sound nonchalant. "You're up early."_

"_I could say the same thing about you," Garfield shot back keeping a straight face, though his eyes glimmered jovially causing Raven to grimace._

"_If you're going to laugh, don't bother holding it in," Raven grumbled, turning back to her latest ruined attempt at breakfast. Both the eggs and waffles she had been cooking had burned while she had been distracted. Gritting her teeth, Raven scraped the inedible food into the nearby trash bin, and began anew. "I am perfectly aware of how ridiculous this may seem."_

"_It's not ridiculous," Gar tried to sound reassuring, but heard Raven scoff loudly. "Fine, it's really ridiculous, Raven. Why in the world are you trying to cook? You're horrible at it."_

"_Thanks," Raven replied in her usual monotone, but Garfield could easily pick up on her hurt undertone._

"_That's… not really how I meant it," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. _

"_That's certainly how it sounded," she cracked another egg into the frying pan as she decided on a method of changing the subject. One thing she knew for certain about her green skinned friend was that he loved to talk and converse in some way. All she had to do was get him talking about something else, and she would be home free…. more than likely. "What are you doing awake?" There. It wasn't a subtle transition, but it would do. She was never one to rely much on subtlety, after all. _

"_Well, Starfire went grocery shopping yesterday," he explained as he stepped up behind the self taught cook-to-be, "so I woke up early so I could switch out all the real eggs with some of my tofu eggs like I always do."_

"_So, you've been purposely deceiving us with… food." Raven almost smiled at his honesty and felt a rush of warmth swell within her. Changeling had not even tried to beat around the bush. He obviously trusted her enough to be straight forward and honest with her, even when he was being deceitful. "Wait. Like you always do?" Raven asked with an eyebrow raised inquisitively. "How long have you been doing this?"_

_Gar beamed at her. "You seriously never noticed? I always thought that was why you never ate breakfast with us anymore. I thought you figured it out but never said anything because it would start another argument between me and Cy. You seriously haven't noticed that the past two years all the eggs have been tofu?"_

"_Two years?!" 'Wow,' was all she could think. Had he really managed to pull off a two year long prank without being caught until now? Considering some of his earlier attempts at pranks, something like this was nothing less than astonishing. "Why?"_

"_Why?" Changeling repeated as if the answer was obvious. "I'm a vegetarian, Rae." He walked past her to the filled trash bin and gave the contents a solemn salute. "I've got to keep fighting the good fight. For every one of these brave soldiers who died in battle today, I'll fight on."_

_Raven could not help but roll her eyes. "And you think __**I'm**__ being ridiculous."_

"_That reminds me." Raven's body stiffened again, knowing full well that she had just dug her own grave. "Why __**are **__you cooking… er… trying to cook? You've only ever attempted to cook for us that one time, and that was because it was the end of the world." He suddenly went pale. "There… isn't going to be another end of the world… is there? Because if there is, you've got to give us better warning than breakfast this time."_

"_You can sleep peacefully, Gar," Raven said stolidly. "The world isn't ending today, at least not by anything that involves me."_

"_Then why?" Gar repeated, sounding obviously confused. Cooking was just so un-Raven-like, borderline unnatural. He just could not understand why she suddenly felt the urge to do so. _

_Raven sighed. She really did not want to tell him that the only reason she was in there right now was because of some stupid girly magazine quiz that Kori made her take. She did not want to admit, to __**him**__ no less, that she was feeling insecure about her feminine abilities. Even if it were true, she could not admit it. So, she did what came naturally when attempting to avoid an embarrassing situation. She lied._

"_I wanted to… because I don't know how." Granted, it was truth enough to scratch the surface, but enough of a lie so that Gar would get the wrong idea in his head. He would think that she was just down here trying to learn something new, trying to better herself. He certainly would not think that she was ashamed of one of her own tiny flaws._

"_It's okay to have faults, you know." Or maybe not. Maybe he would get the right idea after all. Fate just loved to pick on her, sometimes. "I've got plenty of my own. We all do. It's part of what makes us human. You shouldn't let your own faults get to you, Rae. It's up to you to decide what to change about yourself, but personally, Rae, I wouldn't change anything about you for the world. Horrible cooking included."_

_Raven was touched… but also extremely freaked out by Changeling's words of wisdom. They were heartfelt and meaningful for sure, but when Raven though about Gar, once she got her emotions to quiet down so __**she**__ could think, wise was not part of her description for her emerald teammate. In fact, she had only ever heard a similar outburst from him once before, and that time he had been wearing a goofy paper hat. Raven half expected that if she were to turn around now, she would see him wearing another paper hat, as if it were the source of his wisdom._

_That was when the realization dawned on her. Starfire had left the magazine out on the table in plain sight, where __**anyone**__ could find it. That was not good._

_Slowly, Raven turned around to chance a glance at where the magazine had been. Sure enough, it was gone. The magazine was now in the form of a very badly put together hat, perched on top of the head of a smiling Garfield. Whatever hope she had about him not reading her results of the quiz were done away with by the knowing smile forming on Garfield's lips._

_Oh… crap._

~-~-~

Cyborg did not leave the medical bay after his accident treating Beast Boy. In fact, he practically lived there now, having moved most of the equipment from his room into the medical bay so that even if he were recharging, he would be near in case Beast Boy took another turn for the worse. Thankfully, the changeling had remained stable for the past five days since then, though he still showed no signs of returning to the world of the living. That fact certainly was not helping anyone's mood.

The tower seemed far too quiet without Beast Boy in it. Everyone seemed far too quiet for that matter. Nightwing began to spend more and more time playing their gamestation for reasons unknown to the rest of the Titans. Cyborg had theorized, however, that Nightwing was just trying to occupy his mind with thoughts other than that of their hurt teammate. He still felt responsible for the situation. He was the leader. How could he not feel that way, and every day Beast Boy spent in a coma killed him a little more on the inside.

Starfire was unnaturally quiet, almost eerily so. Her time was mostly spent in the kitchenette area of the common room, musing over various recipes of both Earthen and Tameranian origin. Sure, she would spend part of her day trying to talk with Richard, even willing to be thoroughly trounced by him on the gamestation a few times, but even she needed to be alone sometimes. She had her own thoughts to gather, and her own troubles to muse over. For her, the stove was the best place to do just that.

What of Raven? Raven had not ventured out of her room for anything other than a villain's appearance. Cyborg had given Richard the operating manuals for all of the equipment in the medical bay to pass on to Raven shortly after Beast Boy's crash, but Raven had not shown up to help like he had expected after Richard delivered them. If he were anyone else, he would have assumed that Raven just did not care, but he knew better. When something hit close to home with her, Raven would always retreat to her room until she got over it. She would show up when she was ready.

Unknown to Cyborg, the last resident of the tower was also affected by the situation.

'_Lollypop lollypop oh lolly lolly lolly lollypop….' _Beast Boy, though the one who was technically the most affected by him being in a coma, was just…bored. He had thought that once he was released from the hospital, he would leave all his boredom behind him. Although it was true for the first few days, with everyone in the tower becoming increasingly reclusive as of late, his boredom returned tenfold.

What made things worse for the changeling was that his best friend probably sat no more than three feet away, but refused to say or comment about anything… at all. Beast Boy wished his friend would at least pretend that he could hear him, because he actually could and whatever Cyborg could say, good or bad, would give him something to think about. As it stood now, without Cyborg doing or saying anything his own mind could dwell on, it was nearly as if he were all alone again in a dark, empty room. He hated it.

Fortunately, he had been struck with the bright idea a few days earlier that he could pass the time by singing all the songs he knew the words to. It was not the most entertaining thing to do considering it was painfully obvious to him that he was singing alone, but it was **something** to do. It was something to keep him occupied. It was something that would help keep his sanity.

'_Y M C A. It's fun to stay at the Y M C A.' _If he had not lost his sanity already.

Thankfully, today would be different. Today, an angelic voice was about to shatter the silence and solve one comatose green man's problem, at least one of the minor ones.

"I'm done with these," Raven spoke in her usual monotone as she dropped the large stack of manuals she was carrying onto a nearby table. "I assume you want them back."

'_I'm singing in the raVEN!' _Excitement. Happiness. Hope. Garfield could not begin to list the wave of nearly forgotten emotions that flooded his mind now. She was his pale, silver ray of shining hope. She was his knight in dark armor who had come to fell the evil forces of boredom that controlled him now, or so his mind exaggerated.

'_That voice… I missed hearing that beautiful voice.'_ He figured if Raven had heard that remark, she would have accused him of being delirious or truly insane, but he did not care. Even though she had spoken around him less than a week ago, living the past few days in utter silence as he had made it feel like an eternity. He only hoped that her visit would not turn out to be a brief one.

"Raven!" Cyborg nearly fell out of his chair. "You scared the living daylights out of me."

Even though Beast Boy was technically unconscious, he swore he could **feel** the smirk forming on her lips.

"You were sleeping, weren't you?" She asked inquisitively.

"I wasn't sleeping!" Cyborg shot back a little too quickly. Catching his own mistake, he quickly tried to recover. "I was just.. making sure that I was fully charged… ya know… in case Beast Boy needs me."

'_What?!?'_ The changeling mentally screamed in outrage. _'Is __**that**__ what you've been doing these past few days? While I've been laying here bored out of my mind, you've basically turned yourself off. Dude, you could have at least spoken to me once in a while. I'm so switching all your bacon with colored tofu now. They'll go well with those tofu eggs you've been eating.'_

"Well, by all means, if **your** patient is receiving the **utmost** care, then feel free to sleep the days away." Raven had not meant to sound mean, and she certainly had not meant to let out the angry growl she was sure Cyborg had picked up. She was upset that he could sleep, yes, but she wanted to be tactful and just use some mild teasing to get her point across. However, Rage was having none of it, it seemed, and the emotion was taking every opportunity to make her presence known. Several of the smaller objects strewn across the room began to glow black and slowly rotate to face the mechanical man.

'_You tell 'em, Rae.' _

"Whoa there, girl," Cyborg shook his hands defensively as he shot out of his chair and got some distance between him and the girl who now seemed to tower over him. He did not like it whenever Raven was angry. Though he was not usually the one taking the blunt of the beatings, he certainly was not in a rush to get a taste of the empath's wrath. Fortunately for him, the very room he was in, or rather who was in it, would work to get him off the hook temporarily. "Remember where you are."

Instantly the darkness engulfing the room vanished, and the chair Cyborg had been sitting in just moments before fell to the floor with a sickening thud. Raven's eyes widened slightly in realization of what she had almost let happen. It had been years since her last outburst like that. Why had she slipped now? Anger? She was angry every day in some form, and nothing usually was affected by her powers anymore. Why now? And why had she been so quick to anger in the first place? Beast Boy was Cyborg's best friend. She knew he would never do anything to endanger him on purpose. He was probably stressed out by this whole thing and sleeping took his mind off of it. Yet seeing him asleep on the job like that… it had just been infuriating.

"You okay?" Raven's eyes shot up to meet Cyborg's concerned ones and realized that the confusion on her own face must have been painstakingly evident. That would not do. As subtly as possible, Raven took a deep breath, calming herself before answering.

"I'm fine." She replied plainly as her facial expression returned to her usual, seemingly uncaring one. "I think you were asleep when I told you," she pointed at the pile of books that had formed because of her outburst, "but I brought those back. I've finished reading them."

"You read them… all?" Cyborg's eyes narrowed in disbelief. "There were over thirty different manuals I gave to Richard. You read them all? It hasn't been a week. You understood it all, too?"

"I kept a dictionary handy." Raven stated nonchalantly. "I can't believe you're surprised. I think even Gar knows by now that I like to read, and since we're technically not being paid by the city for anything more than living and travel expenses, I can't always afford new books. Something new to read is always welcome, no matter how boring."

'_Aha! I knew some of those books you read were boring. I knew it! Once I get out of this, I'll get you to play a game with me. That's excitement!'_

The pale Titan paused, allowing Cyborg to process what she said before continuing. No doubt he still did not believe she could read and understand so much in such a short amount of time. In reality, Raven guess that she would not normally be able to, but this time was different. Nightwing occupied his mind with games. Starfire did the same with cooking. Cyborg shut down his mind with sleep. She read. They all had developed their quirks because of the situation. It helped them cope.

"I'll be going, now," Raven said turning towards the doorway to make her exit. After being confronted with the reason she had been doing so much reading, she felt the need to reread the encyclopedia. She did not want to see Beast Boy injured like he was. It was far too unsettling.

"Wait!" Cyborg called out urgently as he recovered from his previous astonishment. "You're leaving?"

'_No! Don't leave me here alone with him again, Rae. He's boring!'_

"Yes," Raven sighed. "I just came to return the manuals Nightwing asked me to read. Unless you need anything else from me, I'll leave and be out of your hair."

"But…" Cyborg was confused. If she had gotten the manuals, then she must have known why. Was she really going to pretend like it had not been asked of her to begin with? That was not like Raven. If she did not want to do something, she would say so not act like she was never asked to do it. Something was not right. "What… exactly did Nightwing tell you when he gave you those manuals?"

Raven turned back to face her teammate with a inquisitive eyebrow raised. "He said nothing," she explained. "He merely handed me the manuals and asked me to read them. I assumed it was a precautionary measure brought on by Bea… recent events. In case you are incapacitated in some way and cannot act as the team's medic, I am now capable of at least filling in your shoes until you are able to take over."

Raven's eyebrow raised higher when she heard Cyborg's snort of annoyance. "Figures he'd wimp out," he grumbled. Beast Boy or Starfire were always the ones who were sent to try to get Raven to do anything non combat related. It was no wonder their leader was a bit afraid of trying it himself. Despite whatever bond they shared, Raven could be plain scary at her worst, and asking her to become a nurse would defiantly push at least one of her buttons. But instead of Nightwing stepping up and asking Raven himself, the Titan leader basically dumped that responsibility on him now. Peachy.

"Raven," Cyborg sighed, "Nightwing was supposed to tell you that we've decided that it would be… safer… to not put Beast Boy's entire well being on just my shoulders. He, Starfire, and I all decided that you would be the perfect candidate to act as a makeshift," he hesitated, bracing himself for her possible reaction, "nurse. If you're willing, of course," he amended quickly.

'_Of course she's willing. You __**are**__ willing, right? …Raven? Come on, Rae, you know you love me.'_

Raven closed her eyes to hide her astonishment. That certainly was not what she had been expecting. She had not really been expecting anything at all. Her? A nurse? Surely she was the person least suited to be a nurse. She did not really do the whole nurturing and caring thing that was expected of a nurse. Starfire, however, would fit that role perfectly. The way she took care of Silky proved that she had caring instincts built into her persona. She would be the perfect nurse… and yet, at the same time, a horrible one. It had taken the girl so long to get fully accustomed to the common phrases, customs, and the way of life of the people on Earth that, considering how many times Raven found herself consulting the dictionary when reading over the operating manuals of the medical equipment, it may take the alien years to understand the functions of everything in the medical bay completely. It sounded as if the team had decided that they needed a nurse now, and thus, Starfire just would not do.

What of Nightwing, then? Surely a nurse did not have to be a woman in this day in age. For someone who studied under the world's greatest detective, he would have little trouble understanding everything required for the job. In fact, he probably would be the best at it out of all of them, considering how obsessive he was. He would not allow himself or Cyborg to make a mistake. Raven could easily picture him going over every minute detail a dozen times before acting, which would be best for Beast Boy in the end. Then again, Raven had to admit that the boy did have a tendency to become overly obsessive when faced with a long term stressful situation. Their encounters with Slade had revealed that much. She could only imagine what Nightwing's obsessive behavior would drive him to if asked to assist Cyborg with Beast Boy. Raven did not even need to tap into Cyborg's emotions to know that the last thing he needed right now was Nightwing assisting him.

That really only left her as their only option. Granted, the others probably did not pick her as rationally as she came to the conclusion, but that did not matter now. She was faced with just two options at the moment: She could either refuse and entrust her closest friend's well-being in the hands of one man, or she could accept and be forced to face the image of Beast Boy in a coma every day for who knows how long.

It was not that she did not want to be there for Beast Boy, to help in any way she could in his time of need. On the contrary, she really did want to be there. Her heart was still racing from when Cyborg had explained the reasons behind her reading the various manuals. She had been given the opportunity to help heal beyond the capabilities of her powers. Not to mention who it was that she would be helping to heal. Though Raven expressed it the least between them, she and Beast Boy rally had grown close, closer than she had ever let anyone get before. She missed him, though in truth, she could live without his jokes. She still wanted to help, but could she handle it? That was the question.

The sight of Garfield laying there comatose caused her emotions to go into an uproar, and they seemed to get louder with each glance at the green boy. Meditation failed to calm them, and a trip through her own mind had only served to make things worse. Her emotions were demanding to be heard, and none of them wanted to take no for an answer. Where one cried out for vengeance, another sobbed in a corner due to an exaggerated feeling of loneliness. One wanted to keep reading over any new material she could find in hope of finding a new means of healing the mind, but another wished nothing more than to pray to any god that would listen for Beast Boy's health. Raven's emotions were being altogether irrational, and they would not listen to her anymore. It took every ounce of willpower the girl had to keep her outer appearance normal when her mind was in a state of pure chaos. How could she expect to keep herself together if she agreed to assist Cyborg?

Raven was never one to run away from her problems, either. She liked to think that she was above that at this point in her life, though she found herself hating maturity a little because of that fact. Even if she wanted to just say no and leave, her emotions were already threatening her to increase their commotion tenfold if she refused. In truth, she doubted that were possible, but Raven did not want to test their limits. Her own sanity would have to come second in this situation as her only viable option was to just suck it up and deal with the unpleasant sight before her.

The pale girl opened her eyes and sighed once more. "Fine."

Cyborg's eye widened slightly in surprise. "Really?"

'_Really?'_

"Yes."

"No, really?" He asked again in disbelief. "You're fine with the whole nurse thing? I would have thought it would have, I don't know, offended you somehow."

Raven held in another sigh. After spending years together as a team, it seemed she was still a mystery to most of her teammates. It was disappointing to be honest, but it did not bother her. There were very few people who had ever understood her. "It didn't."

"Oh." Cyborg would have to make a point to make fun of Nightwing for being such a coward later. "You okay to start now, then?"

"I suppose," she chanced a quick glance at Gar's limp form and was reminded quickly of her emotional problem, "but if I am going to do this, I will require the freedom to take a meditation break however many times a day is needed."

"Of course, Raven," Victor smiled, feeling the unnecessary tension he was feeling dissipate. "This isn't a jail cell. You can leave at any time as long as nothing goes wrong."

'_No she can't! If she leaves, that means I'm stuck with just you again, and I'm running out of songs to sing to keep from being bored.'_

"Good," the empath nodded. "Then I have no problem starting whenever you need me."

"Awesome." Cyborg walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a small piece of cloth out of one of the drawers. "Here's your hat."

Time seemed to freeze as silence engulfed the room. Raven's gray skin paled even further as she looked from the small "hat" to Cyborg himself, whose face contorted between that of mock seriousness and laughter.

The empathic woman folded her arms across her chest and glared daggers at her teammate. "I'm not wearing that… thing," she said distastefully pointing at the piece of cloth Cyborg was holding.

"Why not?" Cyborg asked, failing to hold back a laugh. "It's just the standard headwear for a practical nurse. All of those nurses on TV wear them."

"There are three things wrong with that statement," Raven explained, counting them off on her fingers. "One: I am not a practical nurse. You should not refer to me as one, either. It is probably offensive to people who have been through the training required to become one. Besides, the most I am expected to do is assist you, if I am correct. You should call me an assistant if you have to call me anything at all."

'_Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you my lovely assistant Ra-'_

"And, no, you may not call me your 'Lovely Assistant,'" Raven amended quickly upon getting the feeling that someone was thinking that exact thing. "You are not a magician. We found that out last Christmas at the Titan reunion, remember?"

"Oh come on," Cyborg complained. "That wasn't my fault. Richard was supposed to get out of the trick handcuffs just fine."

"He almost drowned."

'_Thank God Star is overly paranoid when it comes to her husband. Everyone else just thought it was part of the act when all those air bubbles surfaced…'_

"How was I supposed to know I mixed up the fake and real ones? Anyone could have made that mis-"

"Two:" Raven continued, ignoring him. "Real nurses don't wear those hats. Remember Sarah at the hospital? She wasn't wearing a hat. The reason the nurses on TV wear them, at least the ones in the shows **you** watch, is to put forth anti-feminist sex appeal. I assure you in television programs where the nurses remain fully clothed, those types of hats are not featured."

'_So __**that's**__ why Richard is always complaining about our TiVo recording porn. I can't believe he blamed me first.'_

"Three: That," she pointed at the monstrosity Cyborg still held, "is pink."

"Exactly!" Cyborg nearly shouted. If there was any way to win Raven over, this was it, albeit a long shot. He still had to try, though. "The comedic value alone is enough to cure Beast Boy. Remember all those times with Mad Mod? We had to make him laugh to snap him out of it. I figure the same thing might apply here."

"It doesn't," Raven dismissed the idea immediately. "Mad Mod brainwashed people, and generally affected how their minds worked. Beast Boy, however, is in a coma, a physical injury. The two situations are at entirely opposing ends of the spectrum. Besides, the _sight_ of me in that isn't going to affect someone who currently is unable to see anything."

'_I can imagine it, though. And let me tell ya, you in a pink nurse hat, Rae, is hysterical. The only thing funnier would be you in that hat __**and**__ a pink nurse outfit. Now __**that's**__ comedy.'_

"Yea, I know," Cyborg sighed, but would not relent. "Even you have to admit it's worth a shot, though. I mean, what if it **does** work?"

"It wouldn't."

"But what if it does?"

"No."

"Please," Cyborg begged, but Raven stood firm. He would have play underhanded if he was going to get his way. "Please, just wear it once… for Beast Boy's sake."

Raven growled and spoke through gritted teeth. "Fine, but just once and only for a moment. " She stomped over towards the half metal man and ripped the had out of his hands. "But **when** it doesn't work, I am going to take this hat and burn it. I don't know where you got it, and I don't even want to know why." Cyborg only nodded eagerly, excited that his last statement had actually worked.

Raven, on the other hand, was less than excited about what she had just gotten herself into. Out of every argument that existed in their universe, he had to stumble upon the one that worked on her. Curse him for being lucky, but even more so curse herself for having a weakness. She sighed. There was no way she could get out of this now. She was not a liar, after all. Once she agreed to it, her fate was sealed.

Grumbling audibly, and murmuring a few choice words directed at Cyborg, Raven quickly placed the hat on her head, not bothering to straighten it out or even wear it correctly. She was wearing it, and that alone fulfilled her part of the bargain. "Happy? I, Raven, monotonous, pale, and oftentimes referred to as gothic member of the Titans, am wearing a pink nurse hat." She looked down at Beast Boy's still form, hoping against hope that her embarrassment would have an effect. It did not. "I knew it. It was foolish to agree to this at al-"

A soft clicking noised echoed around the room followed by a blinding, yet short flash of light coming from Cyborg's direction.

'_No way. Did Cyborg just do what I think he did.'_

"Cyborg!" Raven yelled as she tore the hat off her head and glared at the soon to be dead man before her. Taking a step towards her teammate, she reached out with glowing black hands. "Give me the camera **NOW!**"

"Can't do that, Raven." Cyborg hid the camera behind his back quickly and started to move backwards. He tried to act superior, but that was becoming increasingly difficult to do as he backed further and further into the corner, all the while Raven edging closer to him. "Not until I get our word that you won't tell anyone that I'm the one who corrupted our TiVo."

"Why do I care about that, anyway," Raven growled. "I don't watch TV."

"Just promise me."

"Fine, whatever." Raven rolled her eyes. "I promise I won't tell anyone that you apparently watch porn while the rest of us are away. I didn't even know in the first place. I was just trying to insult you, but I guess I hit the nail on the head, there. I won't tell anyone, though. Just give me the camera."

"And," Cyborg pressed his luck, "you have to promise that no matter what I do within reason, you cannot hurt me while you are my assistant here."

"Fine, I promise not to hurt you if your actions are within reason. Camera. Give it. Now!"

"Okay," Cyborg pulled the camera out from behind him and tossed it across the room, far away from where he was now.

Giving the boy one final glare, Raven left him alone to retrieve it. Unfortunately, it had survived its trip flying across the room, but that would be remedied easily enough. All she had to do was open it up and destroy the film. There was just one problem, though. The film was no longer there.

"You probably notice that the camera is missing the film," Cyborg held up a small cylindrical object, "this film. And because you agreed not to hurt me, I think I'll just hold onto it for a while."

Defeated and humiliated, Raven slumped to the ground. "I hate you," Raven growled.

Yet Cyborg merely laughed. "I know."

'_Cyborg, you are a genius, a dead one, but a genius nonetheless. If you don't go make me a copy, I'll kill you if Raven doesn't get to you first.'

* * *

_

**Commentary for the latest chapter can be found on my profile page. **


	6. Help Wanted

**Customary Disclaimer** The author in no way shape or form owns the places or characters used in the following written work, and is in no way profiting off of their use in any way except when concerning his own ego. This story, and the situations depicted in it, is entirely for entertainment purposes for those that may stumble upon it.

I seem to have developed a thing for **bold**. Also, I really enjoyed writing the back and forth that happens in this flashback.

* * *

**Chapter 5** Help Wanted

"_Mmm," Changeling hummed as he continued to hug Raven tightly against him as the duo lay tangled together on the cold floor. _

_This wasn't what it looked like._

"_Comfy," the green man said simply as he graced the young woman beside him with a warm, caring smile. _

_Raven __**swore**__ this wasn't what it looked like. _

"_I could get used to this."_

_It __**was**__ his twentieth birthday, and Raven was intent on giving him a little bit of leeway, but that was the last straw._

"_Would you stop joking around," Raven yelled at the childish boy attached to her. "I can't believe you're not taking this seriously. In case you don't have eyes to see what's all around us, we're trapped in a room full of __**explosives**__! This is no time for your jokes."_

_Despite Raven's furor, she still retained enough sense to leave the description of their dire circumstance at that. She could not bring herself to describe the remainder of their situation. It was far too embarrassing, though still very real. _

_The room full of explosives, although very real and very deadly, was not the extent of Raven's dilemma. True, she wasn't an expert on the things like Nightwing or Cyborg seemed to be, but she possessed enough second-hand knowledge to know that the type and quantity of the explosives surrounding them were enough to completely wipe out a quarter of Jump City. _

_However, Raven could deal with the threat of a painfully explosive doom looming over her. She could even deal with the timer attached to one of the barrels to her left counting down from fifty-three minutes and twenty-eight seconds. There was still plenty of time to be rescued. She could deal with being faced with her own mortality as long as the rest of her team was still alive and willing to rescue her. After all, it wouldn't be the first time._

_No, the explosives were the least of Raven's worries. It was the fact that she was attached, quite literally, to Changeling that drove the poor Titan insane. Though, bound would be a more accurate word to describe their situation._

_They were both wearing straight jackets, except whoever had put them in this predicament had forced Raven's arms underneath her companion's then twisted the long sleeves back around the two of them before locking them in place behind the girl. And the icing on the cake… the cruel twist of fate was that the same person had apparently done the same thing to Garfield's arms, except his were wrapped around her waist almost lovingly. Raven was not pleased._

_If only that were all… If it were __**only**__ the bombs and __**only**__ the straight jackets, then Garfield and Raven stood a chance. They could shimmy over to the detonator and somehow bite through the wires to disarm them. But no… such a heroic feat was not to be. Whoever it was that pulled this off wasn't leaving anything to chance. In addition to the bombs and the jackets binding them, their ankles were generously gifted with the latest in fashion, handcuffs. Six pairs of handcuffs bound their feet together in what seemed like every angle possible, making movement absolutely impossible._

_They were stuck._

"_Bur Raven," Garfield whined in a singsong voice, clearly lacking the seriousness his companion exerted. "I always wanted to spend more __**quality**__ time with you." To accentuate his point, he hugged her tighter and flaunted his cute…. no… stupid fang with his trademark toothy grin. "This is a rare opportunity for us. Let's make sure to thoroughly enjoy ourselves."_

_That was the wrong button to push._

"_Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven cried out, fully intending to deal __**real **__harm to the foolish boy beside her. Tossing them Green boy first into a wall, lifting the two of them both up to the ceiling only to crash back down onto the floor on top of the boy, oh how the possibilities for his torment were endless. However, she once again came to the same realization she made when she first woke up in this situation…_

"_So…" Garfield let out a solemn sigh, contradicting his teasing mood a mere few seconds prior. "Your powers really are on the fritz." The boy averted his eyes towards the cement below and muttered, "I thought for sure that'd work."_

_Raven glared daggers at her teammate. "You __**thought**__?! You mean these past 10 minutes you've been using to invade my personal space have been just to see __**if**__ my powers would __**magically **__flip on."_

"_Well, yea!" Gar looked up from the floor to meet the furious girl's eyes to defend himself, but quickly lost his nerve. Raven's glares were always deadly, and this one put all the others to shame. "I… I mean I uh… Look, sitting around here waiting to be saved is boring, so-"_

"_So you thought it'd be a good idea to make my life a living hell in the meantime?"_

"_Yes… NO!" Garfield sighed. "Kinda, but not for that reason! I just thought… well no matter how much you meditate to keep your emotions in check, you always seem to go off when I… we…. get too close. I thought that whatever happened to you to make you lose your powers, maybe if I purposely get __**too**__ close, they'd come back."_

_Raven banged her head against the concrete floor in frustration. "I don't know what I should be more furious about, the fact that you've noticed what sets me off normally and __**still**__ do it on a day to day basis or the fact that you did it on purpose __**now**__?"_

"_Hey! If it had worked, we'd be out of here, and you'd be thanking me."_

"_If it had worked, you might have been hurt or my powers could have set off the explosives!"_

_Changeling was about to retort that he had been prepared to get hurt in the process if it meant getting Raven's powers back, but her latter revelation quickly sank in. "I… guess I didn't think about that."_

"_Of course you didn't!" The normally calm girl once again yelled in exasperation. She wouldn't admit it, but at the moment, not having her powers was rather… nice. Being able to express herself as much as she wanted like this, even in anger, was a good feeling. "Idiot."_

"_Fine, fine," Garfield relented. "I'm an idiot. You can throw me off the tower later, okay?"_

"_I'll take you up on that," Raven declared, though her voice no longer held her previous anger. Despite how it felt to express herself, the pale girl couldn't manage to remain angry for too long, especially at Gar. "But only once you get your powers back, too. Your powers __**are**__ still gone, right?"_

_Garfield was quick to note the slight growl that accompanied Raven's last question and was even quicker to answer. "Yes! Yep! Absolutely no powers still. I've been trying this whole time, see!" _

_Raven watched half skeptical and half amused as Garfield's faced contorted into a look of deep concentration, a look rarely seen. _

_After a few seconds of what appeared to be very painful concentration, Garfield's face returned to its usual demeanor, though both his eyes and voice clearly revealed his own frustration. "Still nothing… This sucks."_

"_Indeed." Raven would never use such unrefined terminology, but she could do nothing else but agree with Garfield's summarization of their situation. _

_Thirty-seven minutes and sixteen seconds left. Tic… Toc._

"_This is boring. I wanted an exciting birthday, but this is just boring."_

"_Azerath Metrion Zinthos. Azerath Metrion Zinthos. Aze-"_

"_No-no-no-no-and-no," Garfield protested fervently as he did his best to wiggle around in an attempt to jolt Raven from her meditation. "I'm bored and it's not fair that you can pass the time like it's nothing when you meditate."_

_Raven opened her eyes and quizzically raised an eyebrow at him. "So you'd rather us both be bored than to allow one of us peace of mind?"_

"_Yes!"_

"_So childish," she said with a long sigh. "You're making me want to take back any thoughts of you having matured at all over these past few years, Beast __**Boy**__."_

_Raven was surprised when Garfield failed to retort her statement, and instead adopted another look of deep concentration. How odd…_

"_Alright!" Garfield exclaimed loudly… far too loudly for Raven's taste. Their proximity did not help soothe her ringing ears. "I like it. Let's stick with that from now on."_

"_First of all, if you yell again, I'll hurt you."_

"_How could you possibly hur-"_

"_I can bite."_

"_Fair enough. No more yelling."_

"_Secondly," Raven sighed. She couldn't believe she was actually going to inquire about what went on in Garfield's small mind. "What, exactly, are you going to 'stick' with from now on?"_

_Gar merely gave the girl a look as if to say his answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "The name! Beast Boy! Let's just use that from now on."_

_Raven just stared._

"_I mean, think about it." Garfield reasoned. "It's catchy, it rolls off the tongue, and it describes me."_

"_And Changeling doesn't?"_

"_Not as much as Beast Boy. People might think I could change into a lamp post or something silly like that."_

"_I suppose you're right," Raven mused in half agreement and half appeasement. "Though I must admit, currently Changeling sounds far too mature for you. Perhaps in a few more years, but for now, Beast Boy suits you. But doesn't it bother you that you've gone through two name changes only to decide to go back to your first?"_

"_You never really liked my new names, have you?" _

"_Truth be told, no." Raven answered honestly, not realizing that his question had been an answer to hers. "I've never understood needing a new name. Too many villains pick up new gimmicks weekly and change their names to fit it. It's not like they're new people. They're just trying to seem bigger or 'cooler' than they actually are."_

"_So, which of my names do you think makes me sound the coolest?"_

"_I think no matter what a name make you seem like, the real you would reveal just how much of a nerd you are."_

"_Ouch, Rae. Bringing out the big guns, are we? You must not like any of my names."_

"_What's in a name?"_

"_Is that from one of your books?"_

"_Possibly. Not that you would know."_

"_Hey! I read books!"_

_Raven gave Garfield an incredulous look._

"_Fine," Beast Boy relented. "I don't read books usually. I mainly just read your diary."_

"_I don't have a diary."_

_Beast Boy sighed in defeat. "Your reaction would have been a lot better if you did have one, you know."_

"_Testing out my powers again?" Raven asked irritably._

"_No, just trying to tease you that time," Gar laughed and flashed a dumb smile towards Raven, though the girl wondered how exactly she could find that smile both charming and irritating at the same time._

"_Idiot," the violet haired girl scoffed and looked away._

"_We've established that," Beast Boy laughed. "And __**you**__ never answered my question."_

"_Yes, it's from a book."_

"_Not that question. _

_Fourteen minutes and forty-eight seconds remained on the timer. The others were sure cutting it close, weren't they?_

"_I hardly think this is the time or place to have this discussion," Raven said dismissively. "Isn't it about time for us to be trying some sort of last ditch effort to get out of here?"_

"_Don't try to change the subject!"_

"_No, I'm serious."_

_Beast Boy let out a long, exasperated sigh. "You can't use your powers. I can't use my powers. Neither of us can move our feet, and even if we did make it to our feet, there's no way we'd be able to get all the way over there to the detonator. Besides, I think our feet are also chained to the ground. I can't really see our feet like this, but I'm pretty sure we're stuck right here. I'm just trying to pass the time until the others get here and disarm that thing."_

"_How can you be so calm?"_

"_First of all, I'd like to point out the irony in __**you**__ asking __**me**__ that."_

"_Noted, but I'd like to point out my shock that you can use 'irony' correctly in a complete sentence."_

"_Touché." Beast Boy laughed. "I just have faith in the team, I guess. Nightwing's never let us down."_

"_Red X," Raven countered._

"_Cyborg's never let us down," Garfield amended._

"_He 'forgot' to buy you tofu last time he went shopping."_

"_**Starfire's**__ never let us down, and her cooking doesn't count!"_

"_I'll let her know you've developed a taste for it."_

"_Fine!" Beast Boy was at the end of his rope. "The team __**in general**__ has never let us down."_

"_I agree," Raven said simply. "They'll come for us. I have faith in them, too."_

"_You agree?! Then why… you… argue… me… GAH! You drive me crazy, ya know that, Rae?" Beast Boy's frustration with his teammate had somehow gone full circle, causing him to laugh instead. _

"_Good," Raven nodded. "Since I can't use my powers at the moment, that was revenge for invading my personal space earlier."_

_Raven did her best not to smile when she heard Garfield grumble under his breath about not being sure they even had personal space when they were tied together like this._

"_So, which of my names do you think is the coolest?" Beast Boy asked shortly after he had finished his grumblings._

"_Back to this?"_

"_I'm curious."_

"_Curiosity killed the cat."_

"_Good thing I can't turn into one at the moment. Otherwise I'd use the face to get what I want out of you."_

"_I like to think I've built up an immunity to that sort of attack," Raven lied. No one could resist the face._

"_You just keep thinking that, Rae," Beast Boy snickered. "No one can resist the face."_

_Raven just wished __**he **__wasn't so aware of the power that kind of attack held. Kitten had been an open book last time the Titans had to interrogate her because of it._

"_So, let's try this," Gar proposed. "Since you're so dead set on not rating my names on their level of coolness…"_

"_I'm fairly certain I'm the last person anyone would want to be the judge when using that type of scale."_

"_Like I said," he continued. "Since you don't want to answer that question, how about this one? When you think of me… And no, you may not answer with 'I try not to.'" Beast Boy added quickly as he saw Raven open her mouth to speak. "When you think of me, what do you call me?"_

_Garfield, usually._

"_Beast Boy," Raven lied, though she wasn't sure why._

"_Then like I said," the green Titan smiled, "I'll stick with Beast Boy from now on."_

"_Why exactly was my opinion the deciding factor in all of this?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow._

_Five minutes and three seconds remain. This was as good a time as any…_

"_Well…" Raven could almost swear she could see a faint blush appear on Beast Boy's cheeks, though she couldn't be too sure in the dim light. "The thing is, Rae… I-"_

"_Do you guys want me to come back later?" A voice snickered from the now open doorway. "Seriously, I could come back later if I'm interrupting something."_

_Beast Boy looked up and… was he glaring? _

"_Hey…. Cyborg…. Good to see you," Beast Boy spoke through clenched teeth, trying his hardest to sound normal despite it._

"_Hey, yourself, grass stain. You two look like you've been having fun."_

"_Just," Raven sighed, both grateful help had finally arrived and embarrassed that she had been seen tied up like this, "disarm the bomb, and then get us out of here… and if you comment on our current placement, I swear I will kill you."_

"_One disarmed bomb with a side of freedom coming right up, little lady," Cyborg did a mock bow before moving over to the detonator._

"_How's it look, buddy?" Beast Boy asked over his shoulder after having calmed back down. "You can stop it, can't you?"_

_Cyborg eyed the detonator, then the large collection of canisters it was next to, then at the duo on the floor, and then back at the detonator before bursting into laughter._

"_Please tell me that's a good laugh and not a 'we're doomed' laugh."_

_Cyborg merely laughed harder. "This is great. This is classic. This is by far the best villain we've ever had. I'd love to shake her hand."_

"_Cyborg," Raven growled, "explain."_

_Noting Raven's rising anger, the mechanical Titan attempted to quell his laughter, but the attempt met mostly failure. "This detonator…" Cyborg picked up the box and held it out for his friends to see as he tried to explain between fits of laughter. "The wires…" _

_Raven's eyes drifted down the trail of wires only to realize that… The poor girl began to beat her head against the ground in frustration._

"_The wires aren't connected to anything," Cyborg finally managed to get out. "And these barrels…" More laughter. "They're just filled with water."_

_Raven beat her head against the ground harder._

"_I don't even want to catch this girl, now."_

"_Oh, we're catching her," Raven stopped her self-punishment to glare up at her teammate. "We are catching her if it's the last thing we do, and I will make her feel… __**so much**__ pain. What does this fool call herself?"_

_Cyborg stared blankly at the duo once more before bursting into laughter once again. "That's the best part."_

"_I can't imagine any name that would make this situation funny."_

"_She calls herself…"_

"_What?"_

"_Cupid's Arrow."_

~-~-~

One month was a long time under normal circumstances, and it felt especially long if one was acutely aware of each and every passing second.

Two million, six hundred and seventy-eight thousand, four hundred seconds since the accident…

Nightwing narrowed his eyes as he stared at his computer screen, the only light source in the otherwise pitch black evidence room. Crime was on the rise. He had tried to deny it. No, that wasn't true. He had realized it since Bill Numerous and Wykkyd had tried to attack Beast Boy while he was in the hospital. Criminals saw this as their golden opportunity. With one Titan out of commission, they thought they had at least some semblance of a chance, but now with Beast Boy out and both Raven and Cyborg only making rare appearances in the field, Nightwing couldn't ignore the growing trend any longer.

Well, no, he hadn't ignored it from the start. Nightwing merely thought that if he faced the trend with proportionately increased aggression on his part, things would remain the same. The only thing that had accomplished was making Nightwing too tired in the evenings for his liking. Sometimes he skipped meals in order to sleep. Other times he wasn't able to visit the infirmary to check on…

How long had it been? Six hundred and four thousand, eight hundred seconds. That's right. Had it been a week already? He should make it a point to see him… them today. An image of Beast Boy before the accident flashed though Nightwing's mind, and an overpowering feeling of guilt washed over him.

No… It's not my fault.

_Yes it is._

No… They told me it wasn't.

_They're your friends._

They don't blame me.

_They pity you. _

No… It's that criminal's fault.

_You're the one who let it happen._

How could I have known?

_You're the leader. It's your responsibility to know._

I… No….

_He's like that because of you._

No…

_He could die because of you._

It's not my-

_It is._

"It's not **my** fault!" Nightwing yelled as he slammed his fist down onto the desk he sat at, causing the computer monitor to wobble dangerously back and forth before returning to its initial state.

He was tired. Too tired. It amazed him just how tired he was, really. The increased crime rate now was nothing when compared to his stay in Gotham as Robin. It was the fact that the knowledge of Beast Boy's condition weighed down on him every second of every day and grew heavier the longer it remained. Why was he tired? He knew why.

"It's my fault."

It wasn't. Even _he_ knew that, but the feeling was there. The feeling of guilt was real. Even if he was not specifically to blame, he might as well have been.

"We can't continue like this."

_He_ couldn't continue like this.

They needed help. He'd have to call in some favors, contact some of the old honoraries, and hope for the best. Most of them had their own teams, now, or at the very least successful heroes on their own. There were a few, though, that he knew he could count on…

Suddenly, a blinding light swept over Nightwing, causing the previously dark room to illuminate. The Titans' leader cringed at the sudden intrusion, squinting his eyes and holding a hand up in a futile attempt to block the light from reaching him.

"Husband," a soothing voice echoed from the now open doorway.

As Nightwing's eyes adjusted to the new source of light, he looked up and saw… an angel. God, he was such a sap when it came to his wife. She did look the part, though, standing in the doorway with light flowing in behind her, felling the darkness that previously dominated the room. Dear lord, he had become more obsessed with her than he ever had been with Slade. Though, he supposed this time it was a healthier obsession.

"Richard," Starfire spoke again as she moved to her husband's side and placed a gentle hand upon his shoulder. "Will you not join me in visiting with our friends in the infirmary? I believe you have been neglecting our friends lately."

Nightwing failed to hold back his smile. She knew him well.

"You're right, Star," Nightwing said before rising to his feet and taking his wife's hand. She squeezed his hand back gently… well, it was gently for her. It always hurt a little, but it never failed to soothe his troubled heart. "I was planning to head over there sometime today. Besides, there's something I need to discuss with everyone."

Richard took a step forward to lead the two of them towards their destination, but his progress was halted by his wife's strong grip. She was still rooted firmly in place giving him an all too serious look.

"You hold no blame for what has transpired, Love."

Nightwing's smile returned once again. She knew him _all too_ well.

"I know," he tried to sound as reassuring as possible.

Starfire gave a slight nod before returning to her husband's side in their journey to the infirmary. However, she knew her husband, and she knew his faults.

"I hope so."

~-~-~

"Yes, just like that," Cyborg nodded as he observed replace Beast Boy's I.V. with ease. "You've really come into your own, girl. I'd almost feel comfortable leaving you in charge."

"I'd rather you not," Raven dismissed as she finished checking over her work. "I may have obtained the textbook knowledge required, but I must admit, I have found the practical application to be entirely different. I would rather not be left unsupervised and risk a repeat of Thursday's… incident."

'_Who knew even you could slip up, Rae…'_

"I'm just glad I caught you in time," Cyborg spoke solemnly as the memory of that particular incident ran through his circuits.

'_You and me both.'_

"That kind of dosage really would have killed him this time."

'_Don't remind me.'_

"Don't remind me." Raven pulled her hood back over her head to hide her growing frown.

"Hey now…" Cyborg let out a loud sigh. It had taken an entire day after the incident to get Raven to touch any of the medical equipment again, and even longer for her to speak again. He wasn't about to let her revert back to that state. "Don't go beating yourself up again, girl. That label was faded. I saw it, too. Anyone could have thought that three looked like an eight. Besides, we've replaced all the labels, and they now have new, very clear print. That won't happen again."

'_It better not.'_ The last thing Beast Boy wanted was for Raven to stop talking again. Those few days were torture, though he had to admit, Cyborg's failed attempts to get Raven to open up again were somewhat comical. Cyborg wasn't an expert in that field like he was.

"I know."

Cyborg sighed again, sensing that he was fighting a losing battle. Why did a compliment have to turn out sour like this?

"Look, how about you take a tea break and clear your head. I think you need it."

'_No! Don't listen to __**him**__! He's a liar that tells lies! Nothing but lies!'_

"I could use some tea," Raven agreed and made a move towards the door, "and possibly some meditation."

"Do whatever you need, girl."

'_Noooooo!'_

"Just remember," Cyborg crossed his arms, now sounding deadly serious, "what could have happened, **didn't** happen. It's not your fault, and you're not responsible for a faulty label. You've been doing a good job here, and I feel a lot better with you looking over my shoulder than without. Don't think otherwise."

Raven stopped at the doorway, but didn't bother to turn to face her mechanical teammate. "Thank you." With that, she was gone, and Beast Boy was left only with the sound of the door closing behind her.

'_You jerk! You're not supposed to let her leave. How about __**you**__ leave and let her meditate here? Listening to her repeat Aze… Azer… Listening to her chant AMZ over and over again is a billion times more entertaining than you'_

Silence… Beast Boy could hear Cyborg fiddle around with… something. Other than that… silence.

'_Gah! Talk to me! Say… __**something**__!_

"God damn it! This sucks!" A loud thump followed the unexpected outburst as Cyborg's fist slammed into a nearby wall.

'_Thank you! Wait… what?'_

"It's not right… It's not **fair**!" The mechanical Titan lifted a hand to his face and let out a… sniffle?

'_Are you… cryi-'_

"I can't take this anymore, man. Why? Why'd you have to get hurt, BB? This… This…" Another loud thump echoed throughout the room, followed by loud rattling as some of the smaller medical supplies toppled over. Cyborg made no move to pick them up. "You've always been like this… been the one to get into trouble. You've always been reckless in a fight… always running in headfirst no matter what we're up against." Cyborg let out a sorrowful laugh. "You really give Dick a run for his money in that regard, don't ya buddy?"

'_Dude…'_

"I guess that's one of the things that makes you the hero you are, but…" Cyborg sighed again. "Why'd it have to be this time someone got hurt? Why'd it have to be you? And…" Another thump, another fist slammed into the wall. An obvious dent was forming where Cyborg felt the need to release his stress. "Why'd it have to be a coma?"

'_I know a million jokes, but… even if I could use them, I don't think any of them would help…'_

"I can't cure a coma! How can you expect me to sit here and just wait? I can't do that, Gar. I can't." Cyborg sighed again, and now Beast Boy was sure he was crying. "I can treat the flu. I can sew up a laceration. I can set a broken bone, but what the **hell** can I do with a coma? Huh?"

"You're my best friend, and it's tearing me up inside seeing you like this every single day. Do you even realize what you're putting her… us… me though?"

'_Cy…_'

In truth, he hadn't.

'_I never realized…'_

It had all been about him.

'_I-I'm so sorry, dude…'_

All he had thought about until now was his own situation, his own boredom, his own torment.

'_I wish I could talk to you guy… I wish I could cheer you guys up.'_

Only now was he beginning to realize that his torment was not his alone to bear.

"Why can't you wake up, BB? Why can't you just wake up?"

'_I want to, but I can't.'_

"It's going to be okay, Victor," a new voice, Nightwing's voice, resonated from the doorway. Garfield hadn't even heard the door open. "He'll wake up."

"Night-" Cyborg coughed loudly and quickly wiped the tears from his human eye. "How long have you two been th-oomph!"

"Friend Cyborg!" Starfire cried tears of her own into the man's chest after having rushed to capture him in a _very_ tight (what she intended to be comforting) hug. Fortunately, Cyborg was one of the few who could survive one of Kori's full powered hugs. "Please don't cry, friend. Everything will be alright. I will make you… No! I will make us all some pudding tonight. We can all gather around and watch one of the movies on the couch like we used to and eat it."

'_I'll pass. Too many sweets are bad for my health…'_ Beast Boy mentally sighed in spite of his own joke. The mood was gone.

"I'm… ugh." Cyborg grunted in discomfort as he tried and failed to pry Starfire off of him. Just because his body could withstand the Tamaranian's hugs didn't mean they weren't painful. "I'm fine now, Star. Thanks… ugh… Thanks for comforting me. I needed it."

"I think Star has a great idea, though, Cy," Nightwing nodded in agreement. "A break will be good for us." No one saw him avert his eyes from under his mask. "All of us." Walking in on Cyborg in that state had only intensified his own feelings of guilt. He was determined to try and keep his own feelings hidden, though. He didn't want Starfire to worry.

"Glorious," Starfire exclaimed, detaching herself from Cyborg before flying over and nearly tackling her husband in a similar embrace. "I shall prepare a double portion of pudding for you, Husband Richard!"

'_Sucker.' _Misery loved company. Beast Boy was starting to feel a little better.

"Better make it a triple portion," Cyborg smirked. "You know how much Dick _loves_ your cooking." It seemed as if Cyborg's mood was mirrored his unconscious friend's.

"Just a normal portion will be fine, Kori," Nightwing faked a smile as he gently returned his wife's hug. There was no getting out of her cooking for him, so he might as well just negotiate for the smallest amount possible.

"Very well, Husband, but there will always be more if you desire it."

"I'll… keep that in mind."

"So," Cyborg clapped his hands together loudly and grinned, "what can I do for the two of you. Star, there, is a frequent here, but I barely recognize **you** Dick."

"Sorry," Nightwing apologized honestly. He really did feel bad for not visiting more often. "I'll be around more often."

'_Good.'_

"Glad to hear that. I'm sure BB, here, is getting pretty lonely with just me and Rae to keep him company."

'_You… have __**no**__ idea.'_

"I actually wanted to talk to everyone today. Where's," Nightwing looked around the room expectantly. "Where's Raven."

"I'm here," Raven called from behind the married couple. "You two may want to find another place to stand."

"Sorry, friend Raven," Starfire smiled before lifting her husband up and floating them further into the room.

Raven smirked as she watched Nightwing nearly lose his balance upon being set back down onto the ground. So much for a circus upbringing. "I wasn't aware that a meeting was scheduled. I came back when I sensed an," the hooded girl eyed Cyborg curiously, "emotional variation."

'_That was Cyborg. So totally Cyborg! Fess up, dude!'_

"That was," Cyborg began sheepishly. "Ya don't have to worry about that. Everything's all good here."

"I see," was all Raven said in reply, much to Garfield's disappointment. "This isn't entirely a personally visit, is it Nightwing?"

"Not entirely, no," the leader relented. Although the bond between the two birds was severed years ago, the insight Raven had gained into Richard's persona had remained. Though, he was not fond of the prospect of two people knowing him _that_ well. Starfire was enough. "I also wanted to talk with you guys about our situation."

"I hope you're not planning to have Beast Boy moved," Raven said in her usual monotone, though Nightwing didn't need their former bond to know that she was glaring under her hood.

'_Sick 'em, Rae!'_

"No!" Nightwing responded quickly. That was not something he intended to bring up around Cyborg or Raven. He knew good and well that that option was off the table. "I was referring to the crime situation."

"Good," Raven nodded, relaxing a bit. She was prepared to veto any proposal to have Garfield moved from the tower. It was dangerous out there where she couldn't protect him.

"No, it's not good," Nightwing sighed as he prepared to explain what he was about to propose. He'd have to be wary of any toes he was in danger of stepping on. "Every criminal in the city knows our situation thanks to the stupid press."

'_Stupid paparazzi.'_

"They're just doing their job," Cyborg countered.

"And look what's happened because of it. Crime is up. Convicts are escaping or attempting escapes on a daily basis. _They_ see this as an opportunity, not a tragedy."

"Then we just keep putting them in their place."

"Yes," Nightwing sighed. He hoped they wouldn't take this the wrong way. "We will, but we can't do this alone."

The room was silent as their leader's last statement sank in.

"You intend to replace him?!" Raven nearly yelled. A fluorescent light shattered in the hallway.

'_He wants to __**what**__?'_

"Calm down, girl," Cyborg placed a hand on Raven's shoulder while giving a deadly glare. "No one is getting replaced."

"I don't want to replace anyone," Nightwing held his hands in front of him defensively. "I just meant that we could use some **temporary** assistance in the whole crime fighting department."

"We've been doing fine so far."

"No, **we've** doing fine so far," Nightwing corrected, making a hand gesture that made it obvious that he was talking about Starfire and himself.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you've been on permanent standby here, Cyborg. And Raven…" he sighed as he pointed to his hooded teammate. "I can count all the times you've been on out into the field this month on one hand."

'_Way to sound just like your name, Dick.'_

"It can't be helped," Raven said crossing her arms. "Beast Boy needs us here."

"He does," Nightwing explained in exasperation. "I know he does. That's why we need the help. You two have already made it a point to be on hand here in the infirmary nearly at all times. I just want to make it official."

"So, you're not replacing just Beast Boy. You're replacing all of us? That's low, dawg."

"Not replacing!" Nightwing denied furiously. This was exactly what he hoped wouldn't happen. "It's only temporary. As soon as Beast Boy is back on his feet, we'll go back to the way things were."

"Please, friends," Starfire pleaded being once again on the verge of tears. "Husband Richard does not have the intent to upset either of you. He is merely thinking about what is best for both Beast Boy and the team."

Cyborg groaned inwardly. It was impossible to stay angry at anyone with Starfire pleading like that. Why'd she have to be so sly?

"Only temporary," the mechanical Titan repeated his leader's words as if to solidify them.

"And we have the final say on who you're bringing in," Raven added.

'_I suppose some new voices wouldn't hurt.'_ Any anger Beast Boy might have felt at the prospect of being replaced had also been dissipated by Starfire's pleading voice. _'That's just about as deadly as the face.'_

"Agreed," Nightwing relented. He was grateful for Starfire's presence. Things could have gotten really out of hand if it hadn't been for her.

"So, who do you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking about Melvin and the-"

"No," Raven dismissed quickly. "Who else?"

"What's wrong with those three? They're old enough."

"They're still kids."

"We all were when we started."

"Not that young."

"They've been improving faster than any of us thought. Melvin alone has her powers nearly mastered."

"That's irrelevant."

"They'd be a great help, and they aren't currently doing anything."

"If you call having a normal, everyday life with their foster family 'not doing anything,' then no, they aren't."

"They-" Nightwing stopped, realization dawning on him. "You've been checking up on them, haven't you?"

'_Did your motherly instincts kick in last time you saw them? That's… awesome.'_

"I don't know what you're talking about," Raven lied.

"How… have they been doing?" Nightwing asked pensively.

"They're fine," Raven admitted, knowing that she had been far too foolish and revealed her hand. "Melvin is ranked in the top five at her school."

'_She obviously takes after you.'_

"I see…" Melvin, Timmy, and Tommy were out.

"Who else?" Raven questioned curtly, not wanting to dwell on the subject any longer than they already had.

"Uh…" Nightwing was having trouble getting past the awkwardness that still lingered. "How about Jinx?"

'_Oh! Absolutely!'_

"Absolutely not," Raven dismissed just as fast as she had with Melvin.

"Raven," Cyborg laughed. "You're going to have to throw the poor guy a bone _sometime_."

"_Next_ time has a higher probability of occurrence than _this_ time," Raven said sternly.

'_You're still mad about it, aren't you?'_

"Friend Raven," Starfire began cautiously, "is this about-"

"Of course it's about Beast Boy's twentieth birthday. I have **not** forgiven her, yet, nor do I intend to for a **long** while."

'_Come on, Rae. It's hilarious when you look back on it.'_

"Raven, you can't just keep tossing out my suggestions based on personal reasons."

"I could," the hooded girl argued defiantly. "I have a lot of issues with a lot of people."

"Raven," Cyborg sighed. "We should really bring Jinx in. She's been an on and off villain for a while, now. Maybe if we include her more often, she'd be more inclined to stay on the right side of the law."

_'Plus I think it was an awesome birthday present.'_

"I stand by my decision."

"I have a certain picture that says otherwise."

"So we're bringing Jinx in, then," Raven amended quickly, leaving Nightwing and Starfire in confusion.

"What..." Richard began, almost unable to find the words. "What just happened?"

'_Blackmail 101.'_

"Raven agreed to call in Jinx," Cyborg answered, not bothering to go into more detail. He'd lose his blackmail material if he played all of his cards now. "She's also apparently forgiven Jinx for pretending to be Cupid's Arrow that one time." Though, there was always room for another stipulation.

"But… what was it you said about a pict-"

"So," Raven interrupted loudly, "who else do you have in mind. I assume you bringing in more than one."

"Yea, but the pic-"

"Who else?"

"Cyborg, what did you mean when you-"

Raven rushed forward and gripped Nightwing by the collar. "**Who**.** Else**. **Did**. **You**. **Have**. **In**. **Mind**?"

'_This… is classic.'_

~-~-~

Jinx grumbled to herself as she paced back and forth in front of one of the banks on the outskirts of town. If there was one thing she hated, it was a moral dilemma. She never had to deal with these back when she was with HIVE.

Things were so much simpler back then. They pointed you at a target, and you attacked. No feelings of remorse. No guilt. Everyone knew they were evil and no one thought twice about it.

"Stupid Kid Flash."

It was all his fault, really. He had done… _this_… to her, showed her the other end of the spectrum. He even made her **enjoy** helping others from time to time. That wasn't what someone from HIVE should feel, but now that she had felt it, things weren't the same.

"Stupid **stupid** Kid Flash."

Although, he wasn't really Kid Flash anymore, was he? He was just The Flash, though his name change didn't really matter anymore. He was gone… gone far away to live in space in some satellite with other superjerks like him. Where exactly did that leave her?

"Aaachhooo!" Jinx sneezed loudly. She was cold, broke, and on the verge of eviction… oh yea, and she was currently facing a moral dilemma.

On the one hand, she could abide by the law and get evicted. Not an alluring prospect. On the other hand, she could break the law, rob the bank she was currently pacing in front of, and actually pay her rent on time. The down side was the latter option came with the possibility of getting caught.

"Decisions, decisions."

Had she mentioned she hated moral dilemmas? She really did.

Alright! She had made a decision. She'd just rob the bank _a little_ and hope for the be-

Jinx's thoughts were interrupted by a ringing coming from her bag. She idly wondered what it could be. She didn't have enough money to afford a cell phone or an iPod. What was it that was making that…

Realization swept though her and she dove her hands into her bag in a desperate attempt to find the round object that was emitting the noise. How long had it been since this thing went off? Regardless, the only time those do-gooders bothered to contact her was when something big was going down, and that always meant one thing.

Jinx pulled out the rusty Titans Communicator and grinned a cheshire grin down on it. "Hello free room and board. I missed you."

It appeared that her luck was finally turning around.

~-~-~

A trumpet blazed as a guitar struck the final chord of their impromptu song, and two men smiled as the melody echoed throughout the countryside before their surroundings returned to their natural, serene state of silence.

"That," the trumpeter grinned as his trumpet fell to his side, "sounded great."

His companion, the guitarist, sat wordlessly, yet nodded in his agreement.

"I think I'm really starting to get a feel for your style, J," the trumpeter boasted. "Just a few more of these jam sessions, and I think we'll be ready to knock the socks off of those guys over at Titans East."

Again, the guitarist said nothing, yet his smile broadened and he once again nodded in agreement. He was looking forward to it, too.

"Yea," trumpeter's expression turned suddenly solemn. "Maybe this will put her in a better mood and she'll accept me next time I ask."

The guitarist cocked his head to the side and made a few quick signs with his hands.

The trumpeter didn't know sign language, but he had picked up enough over the years to get the gist of what his friend was asking.

"Bee and I are fine, J. Don't worry. We're just," he sighed, "not seeing eye to eye, I guess. I don't know, J. I don't suppose you have some insight into a girl's mind?"

The guitarist smirked.

"_That_ way doesn't count. You get their body, not their mind."

The guitarist made another sign.

"I know you were just joking. I'm just confused by it all. Every time I ask Bee to let me join Titans East, she shoots me down. We're together. We're supposed to want to be together always. _**I**_ want to be together always, but it's like she doesn't even want me to _be_ a superhero. I just-"

A loud beeping interrupted the two musicians' conversation, and both men began to search for the source. It was only when both of them held up similar round objects did they find out that the intruding sound was coming from _both_ of their old communicators.

The trumpeter smiled, putting his frustrations behind him for the moment. He held up his trumpet and glanced at his companion. "Shall we go?"

The guitarist merely nodded before standing to his feet.

~-~-~

A small woman wandered the streets of… What town was she in? Honestly, she had no idea. She had been traveling for… it had been at least two months, hadn't it? She had really lost track of time.

The woman didn't have a particular destination in mind. She merely wanted to get away… away from him… them…_her_. She had become the third wheel even though she started as the second.

But her feelings on the matter were irrelevant. They were happy together. _He_ was happy with _her_, happier than he had ever been with…

The young woman wiped a tear from her eye. No, she wouldn't dwell on it anymore. She needed a new start. All this traveling, although a perfect way to keep her mind occupied, was not helping her. She needed something new. She needed something effective. She needed something real.

As if on cue, a beeping interrupted her thoughts. It took a moment for the girl to realize that the beeping wasn't her imagination. With hands still shaking from the cold, the girl reached into her pocket and pulled out one of her few worldly possessions.

The small woman brushed a stray strand of pink hair out of her face as she read the message displayed on the small screen.

This was it.

* * *

It's safe to **review **this time. **:P**

Also, my comments, as well as the identities of the honoraries I'm bringing in (the last one's a lil tricky) can be found in my profile. Their identities weren't meant to be a secret, but it felt more dramatic to keep them slightly hidden.


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